Bet
by Satol
Summary: When the weakest person in all of Namimori declares to the feared Disciplinary Committee Leader that he isn't weak, the latter proposes a bet.
1. I Propose A Bet

It wasn't like the boy could help being weak. It wasn't like he could help being small and thin for his age of thirteen. It wasn't like he could help that his capacity for tolerating and forgiving these bullies was immeasurable. His eyes were sharp and cold, but the warm fire that burned behind them lacked the icy resolve to look scary. Instead, they looked inviting and kind. Just the kind of prey that predators loved to pick on.

Today was no different. The boy found himself in the center of a group, surrounded by a troop of larger boys, all of whom seemed to be enjoying themselves, frightening the smaller child. Scrambling to his feet, he tried to run, but suddenly found his feet suspended above the ground. The leader had grabbed him by the back of his uniform vest, and hoisted him into the air with little to no effort. "Where d'you think _you're_ going, Dame-Kyouya?" the bully sneered, blowing the words into the boy's pale face with rancid breath. "We just want to play a game."

Kyouya's eyes widened pitifully, as he covered his face with his arms and curled up into a frightened ball, not caring that he was still being held aloft. "Hiiiiie!" he squeaked fearfully, hoping and praying that whatever beating he was about to receive would be a relatively painless one.

"Hey, you. You're _flocking_, aren't you?."

The surprised raven hardly had time to brace himself for the impact before he was dropped dismissively on the ground. The leader of the bullies turned shakily, stuttering excuses.

Before them stood the feared and respected Disciplinary Committee Leader. He was small and thin, and had large, bright eyes. He would've almost looked kind. Almost, if he didn't always have that terrifyingly calm expression on his face, if those wide, bright eyes weren't always narrowed to show no emotion at all. That voice, that always seemed too low for a teenager of such build, voiced itself again. "Excuses only serve to make you weaker."

Before anyone could make another move, all the bullies were laid flat on the ground. Mockingly, Tsunayoshi Sawada stood up straight from his fighting stance. He hadn't bothered to yet put away the gloves that were his weapons. They were beautiful to look at, if he wasn't beating you up with them, that is. Black, with steel for the fingers, and a round, blue gem set on the back, the four clasps forming the inverted symbol of an X.

Cooly, he caught the awestruck eyes that were staring at him. As soon as that calm gaze caught his, Kyouya Hibari tensed and stiffened, a chill of fear running up and down his back like a yo-yo. Was the prefect about to beat him up to? Sh- shouldn't he be _running?_

Instead, the older boy merely huffed. "Pathetic," he said dismissively, "the weak pick on those who are weaker." Turning on his heel, he began walking back to the school building.

What Kyouya did next was beyond his own perception. Scrambling up, he fearfully pulled out the two tonfas that were his own weapons. Running in front of the older boy, the ebony bangs shook with every shiver that ran it's course along the shaking boy's body. Dropping into a fighting stance, both steel weapons held in front of him, left above the right, each at a slight angle, he stared into those bright eyes. In the outside light, those brown eyes, they almost looked _orange_. And that didn't serve to make Kyouya any bit braver. "S- Sawada-san!" he stuttered, trying to keep his body from shivering so much at those calm eyes. "I- I'm not w- weak! I c- can prove it!"

For an instant, Sawada's eyes widened, showing how large they really were. Then, they closed, and he allowed a small smile to form at the corner of his mouth.

"Alright," he concluded, after a moment of silence. "Let's make a bet."

Still shaking, Kyouya stared incredulously. "A- a bet?"

"Right, a bet. Tomorrow, you an I will switch roles in school for a day. During that time, if you can prove to me that you have what it takes to be strong, then I will make an announcement to the entire school the following day, saying that you are not weak. However, if you can't..." here, the eyes reopened, once again tinged with orange fire, and he brought a singled gloved fist in front of him. "If you can't... then you will have to fight me after school, Kyouya Hibari."

* * *

_I apologize for this being a short first chapter, but it was the best place to split. This may be a used idea or not, I don't know. If it is a used idea, I apologize once again._


	2. How About We Just Get To Class?

"Kyou, you're spacing out again."

Kyouya's head snapped up, his eyes losing the faraway look. His infant tutor was standing on the low table, tapping his foot and smiling. "What? Oh, oh, sorry," he mumbled, fumbling with his pencil while trying to return his focus to the algebra worksheet.

His sinuses were suddenly filled with a dreadfully strong scent, and the boy fell over backwards with a yell, clutching his nose and jerking about involuntarily. "Fong!" he shouted, sitting back up again when the spasms subsided. "Was that really necessary!"

"Absolutely," the culprit replied promptly, his lips still upturned at the corner. "Dame-Kyou, you still aren't focusing," the infant accused. "Scared for tomorrow?"

"Wait, but I haven't even tol-" Kyouya began, but quickly gave up when he remembered about his tutor's uncanny (and more than a bit unnerving) ability to gauge others' thoughts. He sighed, resigning to the fact that, however violent, Fong could be encouraging in his own way. "Well, yeah," he restarted, "I mean, either I do a really good job of keeping the school orderly, or I fight Sawada-san after school... and neither of those options seem very good..."

"You're still a tenth generation Mafia boss," Fong reminded him, smirking. "So I'm sure you can figure something out. Now finish your homework, or extra training tomorrow. If you're still in one piece then."

"Wha- wai- I still don't have any intention of becoming a mafia boss, you know!"

~o-O-o~

Six forty-five in the morning, and the (relatively) peaceful town of Namimori, Japan, lay quiet and humble. The first tips of the sun's rays broke over the rooftops, the paths of their lights unbroken save for a few clouds, drifting lazily. The day's first creatures awoke from their slumbers, stretched stiff limbs and prepared for the day. Breakfast was cooking in the kitchen, the aromas wafting about the home, tendrils of scent curling around corners and up the stairs.

And Kyouya Hibari had yet to awaken.

Ah, typical mornings in the Hibari household. Especially the next scene.

Cutting through the delicious scents from below, Kyouya was on the receiving end of a faceful of garlic and spices. His eyes snapped open in shock, and his muscles involuntarily spasmed for a few moments. When he regained control of his own body, his first reaction was to sit up and groan because of the sudden change between relaxed sleep and tense movement. However, as soon as he was close, A black-haired head collided with his chest, and he fell over again. Springing back up, he stared at his tutor, who was smiling as he stood on the end of the bed. "Fong!" he shouted, "Was that really necessary?"

"Absolutely," the reply came. "And so is this." Jumping up, the martial artist loosed a powerful kick to the forehead, so swiftly that it could hardly be seen. Not surprisingly, Kyouya found himself on the floor, curled in pain and clutching his head. Landing smartly on the floor by his student's head, he smiled, a shadow casting over his eyes from his bangs. "Now get up and get dressed," he said, before turning to leave. "Or you'll be in huge trouble. And I'm not talking about Sawada."

Kyouya groaned again, before crawling about the floor. "He could just tell me," he grumbled, as he pulled on his uniform shirt and vest.

Managing to stop himself from tripping and falling down the stairs, the boy dragged himself into the dining room. Eating quickly, he ignored the everyday morning bustle of the kitchen, involving foodstealing, shouting, and chasing around the table. And of course, the entire table stood up to wish him good luck and goodbye has he walked out the door. More than ever, that ritual seemed like a curse.

Walking out, Kyouya was met with his two best friends, Hayato Gokudera and Takeshi Yamamoto. "Good morning, Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera," he said to them, smiling.

"I-Pin is here too, Kyou-san!" a black-haired girl said indignantly, poking her head from around the low brick wall.

Sweatdropping, the thought, _Why does she come everyday? I-Pin goes to a different school..._ ran through his head. Shaking it out, he smiled to her as well, knowing fully well that it was because she had her mind set upon marrying him. "Sorry, I couldn't see you," Kyouya apologized. "But good morning to you, too, I-Pin."

"Kyouya, you forgot to grab your lunch."

The one in question turned, taking the neatly wrapped box. "Oh, thanks, Squ-"

"A- Aniki...!" Yamamoto managed to splutter out, before promptly collapsing, clutching his stomach.

Gokudera, on the other hand, laughed heartily. "Haha, Yamamoto collapsed again?" he questioned cheerfully. "Guess I'll have to carry him to school today." With little to no effort, the silver-haired Italian hoisted the taller boy onto his back. "Come on, Kyou, we're going to be late!" he laughed, before setting off in a brisk jog.

"Th- Thanks Squalo!" Kyouya called over his shoulder, running after the baseball nut.

"Takeshi," Squalo muttered to himself, turning to go back inside. "Always getting so worked up about seeing me that he collapses. He really needs to take better care of himself."

~o-O-o~

Finally reaching the school gates (miraculously in plenty of time), The three boys (I-Pin had parted with them a while ago with the promise to come over once her school was over, and Yamamoto had recovered shortly after) were met, unusually, with no Disciplinary Committee members standing at the gate.

Instead, their leader himself was on duty.

Upon seeing the other, Kyouya gave an involuntary squeak of fright, which caused him to look up. After a moment of silence, the brunet nodded his approval of their uniforms. With the shaken raven at the back, the trio moved past the irratable prefect.

"Kyouya Hibari," the prefect stated. Kyouya stopped and turned obediently at his name.

"Y- Yes?" he managed to squeak out.

"Check into your class first. Then go to the Reception Room."

Walking backwards, Kyouya mumbled various words of understanding. Having caught up to his two friends, Yamamoto glared at the prefect's turned back. "Is that jerk bothering you again, Tenth?" the tall boy growled menacingly. "Tell me if he is; I'll go carve him a new mouth across his throat."

Gokudera laughed. "Hey, hey," he smiled, grabbing the two's arms and tugging them along. "How about we get to class first?"

* * *

_This and the next chapter were originally written as one, but I wanted to flesh it out a bit more, and found that going over 4 pages was unsatisfactory. I apologize for the long wait on this chapter, but rest assured, Chapter 3 shall be up relatively soon._


	3. I'm Helping Him, Actually

Upon entering the classroom, Kyouya was, as always, met with glares and laughs from most of the boys (who were either smarting from their encounter with Sawada yesterday, or laughing at how the pathetic Dame-Kyouya had to be saved).

"Good morning, Kyou-kun," a sweeter voice called to him.

"Oh, good morning, Nagi-chan," Kyouya said, smiling back. Nagi Dokuro smiled cutely back at him, which set off several steam vents in the boy's face.

"Come on, Nagi, we should sit down." The sterner face of Nagi's best friend, Haru Miura, came into view behind her.

"Oh, okay, Haru," Nagi smiled. Waving, she headed back to her seat. "I'll talk to you later, then, Kyou-kun."

"We should probably sit down too, Tenth," Yamamoto said.

Taking their seats, the teacher stood at the front of the room. He took out the roll folder and began calling out the list of names. Making a few circle marks for absenses, he took out a textbook and flipped it open. "As I'm sure you all know," he said, not looking up to see that Kyouya had his hand raised. "Today is an A schedule, so we'll be havi-"

Without warning, the door slid open, stopping with a small clunk. The teacher glanced up. Realizing who it was, he immediately stood up and attempted a weak smile. "S- Sawada-san!" he stuttered. "Any particular reason for your visit today?"

Not answering, the prefect allowed his eyes to roam over the scared faces of the students, all of whom were no doubt scanning their memories to check if they had done something to incur the fearsome senior's wrath. It was rare that he himself would appear to pull a student out of class, meaning that whoever it was, they had dug themselves into a deep, _deep_ hole, which they would probably be buried in. His eyes roamed about, stopping at random intervals to stare at someone. The students waited with baited breath, following the path of his gaze, and surpressed a gasp each time it stopped. Finally, it came to fully rest on the one student who wasn't focusing, and instead was merely staring through the prefect as a matter of course.

"Kyouya Hibari."

At those two words, the one in question's eyes snapped back to reality, and he stood up, pushing his chair over in the process, a pencil clattering to the floor. "Y- Yes!" he squeaked.

"Did I not tell you to go to the Reception Room after checking into your class?"

As the short conversation paused, the already scared class broke into absolute silence, halting any movement, including their lungs. Mentally, they had been thanking anyone who would listen that it was not them. Then, the horror of Sawada's last question sunk in. Not only was Kyouya in a huge amount of trouble, but it was a _double offense_. He had already been in trouble, and had failed to carry out the Disciplinary Committee Leader's orders as well.

Dame-Kyouya was probably going to be stone-cold _dead_ by the end of the day.

"I- I had m- my hand raised t- t- to ask if I c- could go," the boy stammered. It was the truth, but no one dared vouch for him, as they preferred to just watch the spectacle than interfere and possibly make something erupt.

Sawada scoffed. "Whatever," he said, turning. "Just come out here for a minute."

"May I ask why?"

Mid-turn, Sawada snapped his head to the left, and locked eyes with the teacher. The older man cringed beneath the sub-zero glare. "I- I was merely asking... b- because Hibari-kun's grades are quite low in every subject, so..." his voice trailed off miserably, unsure of how to finish the sentence.

"Very well," Sawada sighed. "He owes me. Now get out here, Kyouya Hibari."

At that point, students were wondering if the Loser would even be _alive_ to pay back whatever debt was due. Scratch the end of the day, he probably wouldn't last the next twenty minutes.

"Y- Yes..." Kyouya mumbled, slinking out of the room.

The class listened intently to the outside conversation, despite being unable to see, as Sawada had not bothered to move far away, nor to close the door even the slightest bit.

~o-O-o~

"_Here,"_ the prefect's deeper voice began, accompanied by the sound of rustling cloth.

"_I can't take this, Sawada-san!"_

"_Just take it."_

"_Y- yes..."_

"_If anything happens, then I am holding you personally responsible."_

"_W- What constitutes as 'anything?'"_

"_If your grades are miserable, that's your fault, but I'll deal with it. If anything gets broken, that's your fault. If I find any dead bodies anywhere, that's their fault. If you can't make it by the end of the day, that's your fault. If something is on fire, that's your fault. If the infant or that... taboo word comes by, and I dont know about it, that's your fault. If your dog decides he's going to do something funny, that's his fault. If we all end up in another one of your fighting schemes, that's your fault. If a window breaks, that's probably my fault. Understood?"_

"_H- he's not a dog! A- And the war things aren't my fault!"_

"_I don't care. And he may as well be one."_

"_Dogs are omnivores though... B- but I think I got it."_

"_Good. Now get to work or I'll make you go up that cliff yourself later. _Without _the pill."_

~o-O-o~

The receeding sounds of school shoes hitting the floor reached their ears, and the students quickly reverted to scribbling problems furiously in their textbooks, presuming that it was Sawada who was, at last, leaving the area. Even the teacher kept his eyes riveted on the chalkboard as he wrote down problems. The conversation hadn't made much sense... at all... except to two people.

Undestandingly, after a few minutes, the students began to wonder how badly the Loser had been shocked, to remain quiet for so long. Sneaking a backwards glance, several were stunned into silence. One made a strangled squeaking noise in shock.

The teacher turned to berate the student for creating such a disturbance. "Tanaka-kun, what are you do- wha- eh!"

As the chalk hit the floor, the sharp, defined _crack_ sound seeming to echo throughout the room, every head looked up in surprise. They took one look at the teacher, who was frozen in place, trembling. Following his shaking gaze, heads turned slowly, to look towards the window-side back of the room, the desk closest to the window.

The sounds of many brain stems simultaniously snapping could probably have been heard if one listened.

Twitching slightly at the sound, Tsunayoshi Sawada put his pencil down and looked up.

Angrily, Yamamoto stood up and growled, his chair falling backwards to the floor noisily. "You jerk!" he shouted, completely ignoring the petrified teacher. "What did you do to the Tenth!"

"Nothing," Sawada replied, his steely gaze unwavering. "In fact, I'm helping him, so you should sit down."

No one moved, all eyes still anchored on the two boys. The older one sighed. "Fine," he said, gritting his teeth a bit at having to do something he hated, "If I'm making you all that uneasy, I should probably do something about it."

Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths. When he opened them, a haunting ice cover that hung over the entire room seemed to dissipate, bringing everyone back to reality. But only for a moment.

They all found themselves staring dumbstruck at the prefect, at last noting subtle differences that had been dismissed because of their shock. When Sawada opened his eyes, they had clearly lost the orange sheen that made them so terrifying. He even opened them fully, so that they looked kind and readable, unlike the calm, emotionless gaze that they were all so used to. They finally realized that he had no gakuran slung over his shoulders, and wore merely the usual uniform of white dress shirt and dark blue vest with tie, and black pants. He didn't even have the usual red armband, embroidered in gold with "Discipline," pinned to his left arm. He smiled shyly, closing his eyes again and cocking his head to the side.

"If I'm bothering you all so much," he apologized, in an almost perfect imitation of the desk's previous occupant. "Then I'll do my best to act like him. Just pretend that I'm Kyouya Hibari, okay?"

Once again stunned into silence, the class merely turned back to their work, as Sawada did the same, answering each question quickly. Many stole glances backwards to the figure, quietly working, and wondered how on earth they had just traded a loser for a devil.

* * *

_I feel sorry for that class. Poor students, having no clue what's going on._

_I'd love to see their faces though; they probably look like most of you did when you read the first chapter._


	4. Who Am I?

Kyouya pattered through the halls, school shoes making a light squeaking noise against the linoleum. He knew where he needed to go, he just didn't know how to get there; he had been to the room before, although unfortunately, he knew only the way out of the place, not the way in. Re-adjusting the gakuran so it hung more comfortably on his shoulders, he rounded a corner-

And nearly walked into someone who was much taller than himself. "H- Hie!" he squeaked in surprise, involuntarily jumping backwards. Blinking rapidly, he looked up at the older... man? This... person, it seemed, was no doubt older than Kyouya, but he didn't seem to be a full adult, nor a high-schooler, nor a middle-schooler. He could've passed for any age he felt like between fifteen and twenty-two, if he only changed his outfit.

"Ah, you must be Hibari-san," the older of the two said.

Kyouya scrambled up. "Y- yes!" he said, looking the other up and down.

He had interesting hair... to say the least. It seemed to defy the forces of gravity, even more so than Sawada's, although shorter and colored black. Sticking almost straight up and out at the sides, the top seemed to have a bit of hat-hair. If a hat that could house that even existed. His gakuran was buttoned to the top, and there was hardly a crease to be seen in it, nor in his pants. He looked like a man who was most comfortable in uniforms or formal attire. Nodding curtly, he turned. "I'll lead you to the Reception Room; follow me, please."

Following the older man, Kyouya managed to find his voice. "U- um..." he began, feeling foolish. "I- I don't think I've seen you before... what's your name?"

Stopping, the man did a half-turn, coal-black eyes glinting at the smaller child (it seemed like a hint of danger, but the tone and smile were kind, which confused Kyouya). "Of course," he said, smiling. "How rude of me. I am Reborn, Tsuna's second-in-command."

~o-O-o~

"This is it."

Kyouya looked around the spacious room, re-learning the interior over his previous memory of the place. There were no more burn marks on the walls, the coffee table and sofas were back where they were suppose to be (and upright), the windows had been repaired, and there was now a huge pile of paper on top of the desk. Wait.

Reborn grimaced a bit, before turning back to his charge- er, boss. "Tsuna-san usually does the paperwork, but I hope you don't mind doing some... it's a light day today."

Kyouya inwardly groaned. _Light?,_ his mind screamed, _That pile's at least three centimeters thick!_

"I know it looks like a lot, but most of it should be really easy. If it's too hard, leave it and either Tsuna or I will deal with it later. Oh, and the intercom button's on the desk if you need it. He usually makes his rounds about an hour each, every other hour, although some days he just decides to do whatever it is he does. And he's typically up on the roof during lunch and break times, but he may remain in your classroom if he wants to. If you need him, you can call for me and pull him out of class, or wait until a break and go find him yourself. Or pull him yourself. Have you got all that?"

"I- I think so..." Kyouya said wearily. "Can I just leave the whole pile?"

Reborn grinned. "Before you even try? Nope, sorry."

~o-O-o~

As soon as Reborn left, Fong decided to pop in through a window. "Nihao," he greeted his usual way, hopping onto the desk. "Actually working? What a shocker."

"I don't want to hear it from an infant, Fong," Kyouya groaned, burying his face in the paper. He'd figured he might as well try to do some before heading out. And Reborn had been right; the paperwork was relatively easy, but that didn't mean that the Loser didn't struggle through it. He was a Loser, after all.

"And I don't want to hear it from you, Dame-Kyou," said infant's voice cut in, followed by a swift kick to the forehead.

"Alright, alright!" Kyouya said, waving one hand in front of him in a gesture of surrender, while rubbing his forehead with the other. "I'll be more serious about it!" Sighing, he stood up from the chair and opened the door, holding onto the gakuran with one hand.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Apparently I have to go do a patrol now," Kyouya grimaced, jabbing a finger toward the clock. That, and Sawada-san said that if you showed up, I would have to tell him or he'd beat me up later." _Like that's news..._, he thought dejectedly, before hurrying out into the hallway, closing the door behind him after waiting for Fong to follow.

"You don't mind me telling him?"

"I have absolutely nothing to do today. Might as well."

~o-O-o~

Coming within a meter of the classroom door, Kyouya suddenly stopped. Down at his heels, Fong stopped as well, looking up to see a suddenly panic-stricken face. "Kyou?" he asked "What's wrong with you?"

Kyouya looked down, staring at the large, dark eyes. "Well... it's kind of silly," he said slowly, "But should I knock first or just open the door?"

Fong sighed. "You're right," he smirked, "that _is_ silly. Just knock and open the door without waiting, why don't you?"

Kyouya made a small, "oh" noise, before continuing his steps. Fong carefully stood at a point between the shadow of his student's legs and the right door, so he could see but not be seen.

Taking a small breath, the raven rapped sharply on the door, before sliding it open without waiting for an answer.

The teacher was quite taken aback, for the second time that day. As was the rest of the class... and it was only first period! As soon as the door opened, even the most blind in terms of sixth-sense could feel the mixed auras that emanated from it. Every single head or body turned to look at the door.

It was like looking at a whole different person. Had Kyouya's eyes always been that sharp and blue? The icy aura seemed to float out like a haunting piano melody heard in an otherwise empty hallway at night. The black gakuran served to accent the gray of his eyes, reflecting in a way that mimicked the cold steel of a blade. Even Yamamoto was taken aback; he'd always known that his Tenth was powerful and seemingly emotionless when the situation called, but this? Completely unexpected.

The teacher's glasses began slipping off his nose with how much he was sweating. The timid underdog had become a ferocious wolf, and a very aloof, cool one at that. And the fact that he was so silent just made it worse... what on earth was going _on_ between the Disciplinary Committee and Hibari's Gang today?

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," he said, eyes still narrowed, in a voice that seemed too low for him, just like Sawada's usual one. Another piece of chalk, or maybe a pencil, hit the ground, but Kyouya ignored it.

"Y- yes?" Sawada replied, fidgeting with his notebook.

"Come out here for a moment, please. You have a visitor."

Inwardly, Gokudera breathed a sigh of relief. Kyou'd said "please." Good, he _wasn't_ turning into a clone of Sawada... that would be incredibly freaky, even if this was all just a role-swapping game. Speaking of which, Sawada stood up awkwardly, and shuffled his feet toward the door, nearly falling twice (several classmates successfully suppressed the urge to laugh at the pathetic former prefect). As he stepped out, the door snapped shut, the momentum knocking it partially open again.

It was just like earlier, but different. The class once again leaned forward in their seats, intently eavesdropping on the conversation. Well, minus Yamamoto, who merely crossed his legs and glared at the door, with enough angry energy to set the thing on fire for separating him from the Tenth so many times.

~o-O-o~

Outside, Kyouya rubbed his eyes before emitting a small sigh. _"How do you keep your eyes narrowed for that long all the time?_" he hissed quietly in his normal tone, still rubbing the right one. _"It hurts!"_

Ignoring the question, Sawada glanced the boy up and down. "I see you're doing fine," he said, nodding slightly in approval. "So, do you give up yet? Can I fight you now? Although, I daresay that the 'visitor' isn't you."

"No, it's not; it's me," a childish voice cut in.

Sawada glanced down toward Kyouya's ankles, already knowing what was there. "Infant," he snorted.

Fong gave a small smile. "Nihao," he grinned, "Mostly, I just came to tell you that, if Dame-Kyou fails, and loses after that, you can send him to the hospital."

"_Wonderful,_" Kyouya groaned, "You just love making it harder for me, don't you."

"Absolutely," the tutor smirked. "I'll see you both later." He trotted off, down toward his nearest in-school hideout, two pairs of eyes following him.

~o-O-o~

Almost at the exact instant that the door re-opened, the class, minus Yamamoto and teacher included, returned to pretending to do work. A quick glance passed between the two role-switchers, followed by one each from the boss to his two best friends and back again. The silent agreements were concluded as quickly as they had been issued, and the door closed again, as Kyouya left to start his first round.

But the nervous tension still remained, the uneasy feeling of how different the Loser Kyouya was from what they knew. It was very, very unnerving, to say the least. Not to mention, no one knew how long Sawada's façade could last before he snapped about something.

Still looking down at her paper, Nagi smiled. Kyou-kun really was something.

~o-O-o~

Padding down the stairway, Kyouya stood in the doorway to the hall for a bit. Several times, a figure could be heard approaching, most likely to the bathroom, but upon seeing the loose gakuran sleeve and red armband, would gasp, before walking quickly away in the other direction to the farther bathroom. He continued this for each floor, staying longer or shorter as he saw fit.

At one point, he caught a first-year. Tittering frightfully, she trembled, staring at the left sleeve, the window, the sign above the door, _anything_ besides the prefect's eyes. "I- I- I have a- a hall pass…" she squeaked out, holding out the wooden board for inspection.

"Alright, go ahead," Kyouya said nonchalantly, after taking a glance at the pass. "But first, one question. Who am I?"

Her wide irises seemed to shrink a bit. "U- um… er… Y- you're one of the Disciplinary Committee members… I think… B- But I heard they all had funny hair… N- Not to say that your hair's funny! I'm sorry!" She began bowing up and down in apology for the err she had committed.

"Don't bother with the bowing," Kyouya said, giving a soft smile, which he made sure she didn't see. "I am Hibari. I'll be filling in for Sawada-san today. Now go wherever you were going, and get back to class. But don't run."

Bowing again, the girl speed-walked it out of there, still jittering uncontrollably.

Content with the silence of the hallway, Kyouya turned and headed back up the stairs. First period would be over in a few seconds.

* * *

_I apologize for the long wait on this chapter. Also, for those of you who also watch Secrets, it is in sore need of a bit deeper planning, and is currently in the process of being rethought. Not redone, rethought. Thank you for waiting all this time, and I hope this chapter is up to expectations. Animeangel105, I hope this is alright in terms of Reborn being "Tsuna's companion or something." To be honest, I was having quite a bit of trouble with that, so thank you; however, if he does show up, Kusakabe will not be an Arcobaleno. Yes, "Mukuro" will show up eventually. Both of them (meaning the man himself and his Swap). I will do my best to keep this story both interesting and deep to the end, so I've very glad to have so much support shown to me._

_As Emotive Gothika asked for a bit of _2718_, I have tried… to some extent. Please bear with me, as I am inexperienced with writing pairing fictions. So, here is a small omake for all your collective reading enjoyment, and also as compensation for the long wait on this chapter._

* * *

Lunch break is a time when students stretch tired limbs, play games, talk, eat, or generally socialize.

In other words, Lunch Break is Sawada's alone time.

He could usually be found on the roof, often taking a nap on top of the water tank, closest to the sky. _The sky is truly majestic,_ he thinks hazily, watching a lone cloud, small but puffy, drift lazily near the horizon. On days like this, he doesn't mind watching the clouds change shapes as they see fit. Capricious things, they are, as he.

A puffed, yellow bird descends, taking perch on the railing of the tank. "Tsuna! Tsuna!" it chirps, blinking curiously at his lazed form.

Yawning, he sits up. On days like this, he doesn't mind when his naps are disrupted by the birds, especially this one. Taking a small breath into the tiny form, it trills, before singing cheerily. _Midori tanabiku, Namimori no! Dai naku, shou naku, Nami ga ii!_

Down below, the metal door to the roof opens with a creak, and the bird stops singing. Taking flight, it wings down, to land on the head of another. This one reaches a hand up to pet the beloved avian, who nestles in the soft hair.

"Tch," the black-haired teen next to him grumbles, turning his face away. "That guy must be somewhere around here if his pet is."

Softly, a song reaches down, seemingly from the upper clouds high above. Clear and strong, yet fragile enough to be blown away by the early autumn wind.

_Okujou kara miru sora, tegarenaku ao wo kasaneteiru. Kodoku wo tataekonda kono kokoro ni, yoku niteiru, tadayou youni._

Having not noticed the audience, Sawada stands, black gakuran flapping in the wind, arms held in front of him, as if to hold the sunlight in a bowl. He continues the song, singing only for himself, and for the Namimori which he loves so. He sings merely what he is thinking at the moment, adding text and notes as he sees fit.

_Shizuka na ao, mugen no kanata ni! Kuri hodoku! Boku no, shikai wo, saekiru subete no mono wo, sousa, daremo kanaiya shinai!_

Stopping, he looks down at the crowd below, just noticed. Throughout the school, they have been nicknamed as "Hibari's Gang," and with good reason, too. The black-haired boy and the two next to him form the core of the group, inseparable, with several others never too far away.

The silver-haired one known as Gokudera breaks the "silence," with a hearty laugh. "Haha," he comments, sensing no danger, "Sawada's a really good singer, huh?"

"Idiot!" the taller one, Yamamoto, rages. "The Tenth is far better than that jerk. Right, Tenth?"

Kyouya merely laughs nervously, turning to Yamamoto. "N- not at all! I'm an awful singer." Turning back to look up at the dark-faced prefect, he extends a hand and waves. "Sawada-san!" he calls, obviously uncertain. "W- Would you like to eat with us?"

Sawada looks down on the three. He listens to Yamamoto makes a comment on how the Tenth is far too kind to one such as he, followed by Gokudera's laugh. After what seems an hour or more, he wordlessly hops down to the "ground." Kyouya moves to sit next to the prefect, and presses two bags into his hands. Sawada looks up curiously to the raven's smiling face. "M- Mom said I should bring you something to thank you about before," he explained. "So she packed an extra lunch, then said I should give you that scarf too, since it's too big for me."

Sitting on Kyouya's other side, Yamamoto immediately went into a dogeza and beat his head upon the hard concrete. "I'm sorry, Tenth!" he cried, "I should have been there to escort you home in the rain!"

"I- It's okay, Yamamoto-kun!" Kyouya insists to his devoted friend. "It's just that my umbrella broke halfway there, and Sawada-san happened to be near, so he lent me his umbrella and got soaked instead." He laughs, then opens his own lunchbox, inwardly sighing in relief that it is neither one of his mother's "personalized" ones, nor filled with Squalo's awful cooking.

Likewise, the other three open the lunches in their hands, and two of the three dig in hungrily. Sawada stares down at the neatly packed meal, filled coincidentally with many of his favorites. He allows himself an inner smile.

On days like this, he doesn't mind being a part of this small flock.

* * *

_I have failed you all; I can't do the types of "pairing stories" that most of you are probably used to. Subtlety is what I do. Sorry, this turned out to be an entire one-shot in itself._


	5. Numbers

_I think my writing style may have changed a bit; the first two scenes were written two or three months ago, while everything else was written today orz. A small note: this chapter is rather dense, despite being barely 3 pages (Bet chapters are typically 3 to 4 pages, I try to keep them short as it is meant to be a light reader). I apologize for the long wait, and I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

As soon as Sawada came out of the classroom, a bit behind everyone else, Kyouya grabbed his arm and whispered, "_Sawada-san, can I speak to you for a moment?_" The taller of the two nodded silently, and they made their way through the hallway, the occupants of which quickly fell open in front of them.

Once at the door to the reception room, they quickly slipped in, Kyouya first.

"So, you needed something?" Sawada stated. It wasn't a question, really, more like something he was saying just to make Kyouya start first. The two relaxed a bit and dropped their masks, now alone (probably).

"Um… yeah," the latter replied, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "If someone asks me who I am, what am I supposed to tell them?"

Sawada stared in surprise for a fraction of an instant. This kid… he was an idiot! Worrying about such trivial things, they could both be doing something practical right now, but no. Nevertheless, the small boy was looking up at him expectantly. "If they ask," he began, "Tell them. There's no point in some useless introduction if you can just bite them."

"Bite?" Kyouya asked, curiosity bubbling upon his face. "Oh! Like a carnivore!"

"Sure," the lazy reply came. "Now, if you're _done_, I would like to go back to your class and continue scaring your little flock. It's quite… enjoyable."

_He's having fun with it! He's actually having fun with it!_ Kyouya thought, sweat dropping. Swallowing nervously, he nodded. Acknowledging the temporary Disciplinary Committee Leader's obedience, Sawada ruffled the shorter boy's black hair for a moment, before turning and leaving, reverting back to a stuttering mess immediately upon stepping back into the hallway. It was as if the doorway was some sort of portal.

Kyouya stood stock-still in shock. Did Sawada-san just _pet_ him like an animal?

The bewildered thoughts were quickly interrupted by a round head cannoning into his stomach. With a wordless shout, Kyouya was propelled into the far wall, where he slumped to the ground like a puppet with severed strings. "Stay on your toes, Dame-Kyou," Fong reprimanded him sharply. "A mafia boss can never be too careful."

"F- Fong!" Kyouya stuttered angrily, still on the floor. "You put a _spin_ on that!"

"As I said, stay on your toes," the infant continued, ignoring his student's outburst. "Always on guard, ready to protect both his subordinates and the common people. This is what it means to be a boss of the Vongola!"

Kyouya sighed, and resigned to listening to the Infant's monologue. It was rare that the infant became engrossed in speaking like this, but when it happened, there was no stopping him. Not that stopping the tiny home tutor was ever an option in the first place. He didn't want any of this, really; it put his friends in danger, even Sawada-san and Nagi-chan and I-Pin.

Looking down, he fidgeted with the ring on his right hand, twisting it around the middle finger. The round gem was inlaid with the symbol of the Vongola Mafia Famiglia, easily one of the strongest families in the world. "That ring on your finger is your mark as a boss, Kyou. Remember that!"

Kyouya looked up, to see Fong standing resolutely on his raised knee. "Alright," he sighed, looking back at his tutor. "I'll try to remember that."

His reply was rewarded with a cloud of concentrated garlic spices and a kick, all to the face. "Baka Kyou," Fong smirked. "You're agreeing too easily. You've got to learn when to say no."

…

When he awoke, Reborn was shaking him by the shoulder lightly. "Hibari-san, are you alright?" he asked gently. "You were collapsed against the wall."

Kyouya sat up abruptly and looked around. He was still in the Reception Room, but someone had moved him onto the couch… Of course! Fong's attack must have knocked him out cold! "R-Reborn-san!" he stuttered, "What time is it right now?"

The Vice Chairman turned to look at the clock on the wall. "Almost the end of second period," the reply came. "You were out for most of the hour."

Kyouya groaned. He could just imagine Fong sitting in one of his little hideaways in a fire hose cabinet somewhere, sipping his tea and smirking. Actually, never mind imagining it; it was probably happening right now. Hopping up, he heard the chime ring.

Almost immediately, there came the sound of someone running down the hall. Remembering his duty, Kyouya opened the door to go and punish whatever idiot was running.

-And smacked straight into a wall made of human. Rubbing his forehead, he looked up, only to be met with an angry Tsunayoshi Sawada. A nerve could be seen twitching in his neck, but the older boy took a moment to compose himself, before yanking the smaller boy up by the front of his vest and walking in, snapping the door shut behind him.

Silence reigned in the small room before Sawada dropped Kyouya unceremoniously on the floor. The latter tried to sink into his new habitat to escape the obviously livid senior, quailing under the stern gaze. Over in the corner, Reborn stood stock-still and awaited whatever came next with baited breath.

"Where. Were. You." Sawada growled, his patience unusually short. Kyouya quailed beneath the stern, fiery orange gaze as the Disciplinarian continued. "Exactly 7 minutes and 26 seconds ago, 3 third-year students showed up hiding sloppily behind one of the sheds in the courtyard. They were smoking tobacco and harassing any underclassmen who walked by. _And they're still there._ Where were you! ?"

"I- I was in here!" Kyouya replied, nervously deciding to stick with the truth. "F- Fong attacked me and knocked me out, so I couldn't've kn- known about the third years, Sawada-san! It's not my fault!" Having given his testimony, he stood nervously, awaiting the other's response. In his apprehension, Kyouya had an odd revelation that Sawada's amber eyes always seemed to become a sort of sunset orange when he became more irritated.

After a long, strenuous pause, Sawada gave his verdict. "Alright, fair enough," he decided, seeming to be in an unusually forgiving mood. "It smells like garlic and there's a small dent on the seat cushion, in the way that someone was lying immobile for at least half an hour and only just got up. Not to mention…" he bypassed the nervous junior, crossing over to place a hand on the dent he had mentioned. "…the seat's still warm. You're off the hook."

Kyouya visibly breathed a sigh of relief, before tensing again as Sawada once again continued. "But that means that you'd better get out of my sight and down in the courtyard in shorter than the amount of time it takes me to return to class. Passing period is almost over, Hibari. Get going."

He was only too glad to hightail it out of there (albeit very gracefully and purposefully), the sounds of Sawada hurrying back to his class echoing in the near-empty hallway.

…

Kyouya peeked around a corner of the building, staring intently at three hulking forms that hardly looked like regular humans, much less middle-schoolers. Those must be the three delinquents whom Sawada-san had pointed out. _It certainly _smells_ like tobacco,_ Kyouya thought, wrinkling his nose in disgust. Ugh, how could people _stand_ to smoke when it reeked this badly?

Unfortunately, the only other real thought going through his mind went something along the lines of:

_Aaaaaaaaaaaah! What am I doing! Those three are so huge, they're going to kill me! They're going to beat me into a bloody pulp and toss the remains on the street so I can get run over by trucks!_

However, he had no more time to think. Opening his tightly shut eyes, he found himself facing the very third-years whom he had been hiding from.

"Haha, I thought I heard some scuffling back here, and what do you know? It's first-year Dame-Kyou!" One of them jeered, grinning crookedly down.

_Drat._

The one next to him guffawed loudly. "What should we do, boss?" he asked the first. "Beat 'im up quick and throw 'im in the shed, or roast 'im slow-like?" They two shared the crude joke, laughing cruelly.

The third, however, seemed a tad bit on the smarter side. "He's got the Prefect's jacket, boss," he pointed out, jabbing a thumb toward the diminutive boy. "Maybe we shouldn't mess with 'im."

He was rewarded with a firm clout over the head for his intelligence. "Shut up, who's the boss around here?" the leader grunted, nodding when the smart one muttered an apology and an affirmation. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Kyouya wasn't sure whether his brain had clicked off or his mind was racing so fast he couldn't keep up at all. But he had hesitated in front of the danger, and now it was knocking at his door.

"Back… off…" he hissed quietly, allowing the irritation to rise to his head.

The second snickered at the low statement. "Bossin' around your seniors ain't good for you, little junior," he menaced, cracking a few knuckles to emphasize the statement. "Or we may just have to teach you some manners."

_Irritation level: 5/10._ Planting his feet resolutely, Kyouya stood up straight from his former position of leaning with his back against the wall. "Back off," he repeated slowly. "I'm not bossing you around, I'm _ordering_ you to back off and leave for your classes."

The smart one took a few steps back, unbeknownst to his companions; Kyouya flicked his eyes toward him for a moment, and took a step forward._ 6._ "Seniors and juniors? Don't make me laugh," he continued, narrowing his eyes until they glinted cobalt blue marbled with streaks of gray. "At this moment, conventional means do not restrict me."

The second of the two seemed to finally get what the boy was saying through his thick, simian skull. They were dealing with something completely new here; his boss was being crazy. Nervously, he stepped backwards, as Kyouya took another stride forward and their third member was already ready to fly the coop like the chicken he was at a moment's notice. _7._ "Had you ever tried a moment in your life, you could have achieved something. Loser that I may be called, I am far superior to you in both value as a student and as a living being. _I_ am the senior. And seniors may order their juniors, correct?"

With two clicks, Kyouya had his tonfas drawn, and dropped into a fighting stance. The leader seemed to get the message this time, and took a step back. The other two stood stock-still in shock, staring at the blunt objects gripped in the Loser's hands. So, it was not only the Disciplinary Leader who carried weapons on campus?

"Were you not planning to teach me some mannerisms?" Kyouya continued, now fully into the swing. Red burned into his vision as he snorted. "Rest assured, I'll do more than that. I'll _discipline_ you instead." _8._

_'Just bite them.'_

_'Bite? Oh! like a carnivore!'_

"Listen well, herbivores," he growled, adding his own animalistic twist to Sawada's phrases. "I'll be patient and say this one last time so it can get through your dense head to whatever tiny excuse for a brain you have in there. By the authority that has been given to me by Tsunayoshi Sawada… By the authority held by me as the Leader of the Disciplinary Committee, I _order_ you to stand down, back off, and return to your class."

Gathering up his courage stubbornly, the leader puffed himself up again. "Bite me!" he spat, in another act of misguided bravery. _9. _There were three of them (he thought), and only one scrawny loser. Nothing could happen.

"I'll gladly bite you," Kyouya spat back menacingly. Crouching farther down, his legs tensed in preparation for a spring. "As in _I'll bite you to death!_" Growling, he leapt, jumping cleanly underneath the beefy arm that was swung towards him, making his way toward the fast-escaping smart one. The one in question pulled up short and yelped in surprise as he turned to run in another direction.

_Not going to happen,_ Kyouya thought bitterly, overcome with rage, as he took up the chase. As the smart one turned back to see if he was being followed, he caught up, and rapped the upperclassman sharply on the back of the head, knocking him down and out.

Standing up straight again, he smirked at the other two. "One."

* * *

_It's been so long that I decided that you all deserved an omake. It's not much, but it'll lighten the mood a bit, I hope. But uh… thanks for sticking with me through the long wait (I know that I'm guilty of sometimes removing stories from my watch list if they've been idle so long that I've lost interest (laughs))_

_

* * *

_

"Sawada, is it true that you're resigning from your position?"

The one in question looked up in surprise from the book he had been reading. Gokudera was standing next to his desk, smiling as always, with Yamamoto scowling at them both from a fair distance away. "What in the- who told you_ that_?" he asked, eyeing the underclassman skeptically as he remained sitting, his hand halfway to turning a page.

Gokudera shrugged, and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder toward the door. "I dunno, first I overheard this first-year from class C talking about it with her friend, but I didn't really think about it. And then I passed these two seniors a minute ago on my way to the bathroom, and they were saying something about you retiring from being Disciplinary Committee Leader and giving your position to Kyouya."

By this time, the majority of the class had stopped their conversations and were staring incredulously at the two in the corner. Equally shocked was Sawada, though he managed to stay in-character and looked wide-eyed and slack-jawed for a few moments. Shaking out of his reverie, he glanced out of the window, spotting Kyouya in the courtyard. He appeared to be talking with Reborn, pointing to the sheds out by the baseball diamond.

"I'm. Going. To. _Kill_. Him," Sawada ground out through clenched teeth, forgetting to dampen his dark, murderous aura.


	6. Naivety

"One."

Kyouya bared his fangs, grinning at the third-years still standing. He tapped the end of a tonfa on the downed one's head, the slow _tap-tap-tap_ rhythm mimicking a requiem. _'Who's next?'_ the face seemed to say, but then he hummed quietly, as though dwelling on a passing thought. "I'm feeling generous today," he said, lessening the expression. "You two have 5 seconds. Then I'll come after you."

The two stood stock-still, terror evident on their faces at what they had just seen.

"Well? What are you doing? I like it better when my prey runs… so… _run._"

Needing not a second prompt, the two sped away faster than Kyouya would have had trouble believing possible, if he hadn't been able to escape that fast before. Momentarily, his knees shook beneath him, before completely giving out. He collapsed to the side, hyperventilating as his shoulders shook, leaning on the wall for support. "Di- did I…?" he asked the empty air, the words hanging about for an answer.

Receiving none, he sank down to the ground, before the fallen figure caught his eye. He frowned. The hit shouldn't have been that hard… true, he had had the advantage of a jump's momentum and a hard steel weapon, but the third-year should still be semi-conscious at the least. Managing to get himself steadied on his shaking legs, he hobbled over and knelt down to check. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked, shaking the shoulder.

Gaining no reaction, he bent to grab his arm, to try and pick the much larger and heavier male up. He would have to drag him as far as he could toward the infirmary, and get Reborn's help if possible.

"_Hahaha, how extremely interesting you are, Vongola. What's this? Such a naïve boy; always showing mercy to those who do you wrong… and that naïvety shall be your downfall."_

Kyouya gasped, and leapt up in shock. That voice, was it…!- no. It couldn't have been. _He_ was in prison on the other side of the globe; his own intuition should have warned him of any approaching beings, including _her_; _they_, if they were accompanying either, would have been so loud they could be heard a kilometer away by a deaf man.

"_I'm crushed, Kyouya Hibari. You doubt my existence? After all the efforts I made to help you with your _job…_"_

Without warning, a tremendous headache assaulted Kyouya's mind, and he yelped in pain, curling on the ground and clutching his head in his hands. The two tonfas fell to the dusty ground of the courtyard, clattering against each other. "G- Go away…!" he cried out, willing the intense hurt to go away. _He's coming… _he's_ coming!_

"_I'm sorry, that's not happening. Because just as I told you… that naïvety shall be your downfall. And what better time to strike then when you're armed, yet defenseless, when that little salmon boy is nowhere near to be able to defend the students of 'his' Namimori?"_

The headache's already crushing grip tightened, and he fell into the dark of unconsciousness.

_Ryohei… Sasagawa…!_

…

Sawada continued staring out the window. The teacher was just babbling something he already knew, anyway, and if he got called on, he could figure it out in a cinch. He watched the white clouds moving slowly across the palette of blues, and sighed. If Kyouya actually _did_ manage to accomplish something, he'd have lost a full day's worth of work for nothing. But a promise was a promise, and he was a man of his word; he wouldn't break it.

He glanced back down at his textbook, and realized that everyone had the page turned. Oh, whoops. Flipping the paper, he took a look. Another sigh escaped his lips. Boring. He'd much rather be out patrolling. Or destroying some herbivore who didn't deserve to breathe. Or anything, really.

He turned his gaze back out the window, watching the clouds again. He suddenly had a brief moment where he wished he could fly, like Tsubird. He'd go wherever he wanted. But oh well; such was the burden of a human; chained to the earth he walked upon.

Chanced upon a sudden whim, he glanced down where the trio of herbivores had been earlier. Third period was only 15 minutes from ending, that herbivore better be finished with those three.

As he watched, he saw two of the third-years escape, and scoffed. Stupid Hibari, always being merciful. Those three deserved to die. Suddenly the first-year, with the prefect's jacket still slung over his thin shoulders, swayed, collapsing onto the ground. His large eyes widened in shock.

What on earth…?

…

As the door opened without a knock yet again, the teacher felt a nerve twitch. Didn't _any_ of these students know how to enter a room properly?

His thoughts were interrupted by a large voice. "Teacher!"

"Yes?" he asked tiredly, looking up toward the door. He'd head from the first-period math teacher that there were weird things going on that day, but the second period history teacher had said that nothing important was going on. It had been quite a scare to he, as the language teacher, that Tsunayoshi Sawada had been sitting in Hibari's seat. Not only that, the prefect was behaving fine. Kindly, even. There were no threats of death, no glares of death, nothing remotely related to the massacring of instructors and students both without mercy. And although he had been speechless, the class seemed to be fine with the situation, so he relented. After all, if Sawada wanted to hang around in 1-A, that was Sawada's business.

Although he found it odd that Hibari was marked attending for both classes prior. And also that every paper Sawada turned in was marked "Kyouya Hibari." But oh well. He wasn't causing any trouble, just staring with boredom out the window the entire time, not saying a thing, leaning his chin in his hand with a glazed look in his caramel eyes.

The entire class turned around (minus Yamamoto, who was, as always, sleeping openly in class, legs propped up on the desk. And he couldn't tell, really, but Gokudera might've been sleeping as well: the sports star seemed awfully engrossed in his textbook reading). There stood Mukuro Rokudo, with his unusual "pineapple-styled" haircut, and deep blue eyes. Although his thin build didn't give it right away, he was the boxing team's leader, known for his odd laughter and loud voice.

"I wanted to look for Sawada because Mr. Tanaka needed me to deliver something to him!" Mukuro yelled, and every student within a one-meter radius of the door clapped their hands to their ears. "But that Reborn person said I would find him here!"

"Ah… right… Sawada-san…" the teacher muttered tiredly. Today might be too much for him. His third-year class second period had nearly sent him into a faint with how rowdy they were being; this class was wearing his mental state down too. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he pointed a finger toward Sawada's desk. "Yes, he's over in the corner where… Hibari… usually…"

The sentence never concluded. Empty desk, chair pushed back, open window.

* * *

_If anyone was wondering, yes, I skipped second period so I could hurry up and get here (ha, ha, ha). I do seem to enjoy tripping you all up, don't I?_

_I can't think of an omake right now, but if someone were to suggest an idea, I'd be happy to try. (sweat) Sorry. And anyway, I'm not too happy with this chapter because of the flow. Sorry about that, too. orz_

_[Edit]** Ezcap1st** has suggested 'slice of life'! **Yumiko-Emiko** wished Satol a happy boxing week! Satol has gained 42 Inspiration!  


* * *

_

"… And so, because of the isosceles base angle theorem, AB=AC, and therefore, because of 3. and 7. with the substitution property, AC=BG. Got that?"

Kyouya scribbled the last of Fong's monologue down onto his paper, before squinting at it in confusion. "Er… I think… so…?" he answered uncertainly. He definitely understood that first bit up to how angle ABC was equal to angle ACB, but then that last sentence was confusing. "Actually, on second thought, what's the isosceles base angle theorem?"

His diligence was rewarded with a roundhouse kick to the forehead that had the first-year sprawled out on the floor. "Fong!" he spluttered, sitting back up. "What was that for!"

"Baka-Kyou!" the infant smirked, "How can you forget what we just went over?"

_But you never explained anything about it…_

"Of course I did. You just spaced, didn't you?"

"Don't read my mind!" Kyouya nearly screamed, throwing his arms up in despair. This was hopeless; he'd never get anything over a 20 on his math test tomorrow and that was a fact.

And he really did scream when the door suddenly burst open, very nearly flying off its hinges. "Kuha, Hibari!" the intruder roared, volume going over the shriek with no effort at all. Signature pineapple haircut (he and Yamamoto had a strange habit of getting into heated battles of Pineapplehead-Fishheadd shouting matches), explosive aura and a fire in the eyes that bled 'extreme.' "Your mom told me I'd find you here!" Suddenly Kyouya found that Mukuro was far too close for comfort, shoved almost nose-to-nose and backed into the study table. "Do you know what day it is!"

"No! No I don't!" Kyouya shouted back. The noise was infectious. "What day is it, nii-san!"

"Today is Boxing Day!"

Kyouya's eyes darted to the calendar in the corner of the room. Boxing Da- oh, yeah. It was. First weekday after Christmas, alright.

"Do you know what that means!"

Kyouya attempted to back up further, but he was already pressed so far back that the table edge dug into his back uncomfortably. "No, I don't!" he squeaked.

"Kuhaha! It means you must join my Boxing Club, Hibari! Right now!"

An awkward sentence descended (though Mukuro didn't seem to notice in the slightest).

"Nii-san… that's… not what Boxing Day is…"

* * *

_I am disappoint with myself. Mukuro just isn't extreme enough. Oh, and if you're wondering about his "Kuhaha" thing… well… when Mukuro's laughing out loud, he says "ha" instead of "fu," which is more like a chuckle. *shrugs*_


	7. Confusion

Two boys, one blond with a thick scar reaching across his face and over his nose, the other with dark hair and eyes hidden by a white beanie cap and glasses, looked disdainfully at the prone figure lying on the couch in the middle of the room. They were both dressed in the uniform of the next-door town's middle school, Kokuyo. A fourth figure, also dressed in a Kokuyo uniform, leaned casually against a different wall, watching the two. A long trident was held lightly in his right hand, the three-pronged metal head gleaming dangerously in the dim light.

The first to speak was the bespectacled one, who sneered. "Ryohei-san, why don't you just make the pact and get it over with? I'm tired of waiting!"

Pushing himself off the wall, Sasagawa Ryohei walked forwards. Now that a stray beam of sunlight that fell through the moth-eaten and ancient curtains, he could be seen properly. Silver hair cut in a way that suspiciously resembled a freshly mowed lawn, gray and red eyes, with a scar over the right gray one. He chuckled before answering. "Fufu, don't be so hasty, Chikusa. This is all part of the extreme plan, after all. And besides…" Here, he brought the blunt end of the trident up to prod the unconscious captive, who groaned and grimaced, before stilling again. "Don't you think that it would be extremely entertaining to wait? Watch out, he could be waking up now."

…

Kyouya groaned and cracked his eyes open. Why was this room so bright? Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the brightness, he was surprised to find himself on the couch in the Reception Room, staring up at the tiled ceiling and humming lights. Sawada-san's gakuran was still around his shoulders. Odd, he would've sworn that Ryohei had been up to something. Shrugging to himself, he guessed that, perhaps, he was still knocked out from Fong's gyoza, and all that had been a lie.

Sitting up, he turned his head when the door rolled open. "Reborn-san," he opened his mouth to say, but all he really managed was the first syllable. After all, it wasn't Reborn. It was Tetsuya, his older brother-figure. "Tetsuya-san," he said almost to himself, wondering what was happening. Tetsuya had his own Family to take care of, after all; he probably wouldn't be in Japan, much less the school, unless something important was going on. And why was he wearing a gakuran? "Did something happen?"

At his name, Tetsuya stilled, and seemed surprised to see Kyouya. "Er… Chairman?" he asked, seeming nervous. "Are you, perhaps, not feeling well today?"

Standing up, Kyouya shook his head. "No, not really. Why do you say that?" _And since when does Tetsuya-san call me Chairman?_

Tetsuya swallowed, apparently afraid that something awful would happen if he said too much. "Well… you called me by my name, and my given name at that. We- were you sleeping? Did I disturb you?"

Kyouya shook his head, and walked over to the door. "I'm going to patrol, okay? Don't worry about it."

As he closed the door behind him, Tetsuya gave a huge sigh of relief. Something was off, and it was making him high-strung with the unpredictability.

…

With the grace and practiced ease of a cat, Sawada landed on the roof of a storage shed located a story below the classroom window. Inside the classroom he landed outside of, he missed seeing the horrified face of one of the students near the window as he hopped off the edge. The student, a second-year, continued gaping in shock as the feared prefect landed safely again (and raising a small column of dust in the empty courtyard).

The prefect in question sped off towards where he had seen Kyouya fall. Upon nearing, he froze as a familiar feeling of foreboding crawled up his spine.

He had been here. In _his_ school. On _his_ territory.

Ryohei had been here.

…

As Kyouya walked down the hall, he spied a small group farther down. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that he could see the backs of Yamamoto and Gokudera. He spotted a little head of spiky brown hair, too, so he guessed that Sawada was talking to them, too. Without a second thought, he walked over. "Hi, Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera."

At the voice, the two turned, while Sawada squeaked, jumped, and hid behind Yamamoto. Well, that was new. "Hey, do you know what time it is? I forgot to check."

Yamamoto grinned, and waved. "Hi, Hibari. Nice t'see you this morning. How's it going? Time? Um… I think it's around 10." Gokudera merely swore at the sight of him, turning away and glaring at a wall. Kyouya's smile faltered; what was up with everyone today? Was there something on his face? Yamamoto blinked for a moment, then laughed. "Haha, you seem a little different today… did you get a haircut or something?"

"You Baseball Idiot!" Gokudera seethed, changing the target of his murderous glances to Yamamoto. "Can't you read the atmosphere! ?"

Yamamoto blinked, then laughed again. Certainly, there was something odd about these two. "Haha, you're right, Gokudera!"

Sawada poked his head out from behind his human shield, and looked Kyouya up and down. "Hibari-san… are you… feeling alright?"

Kyouya turned to Sawa- wait, he's shorter. That was odd… maybe he just had a growth spurt and everyone else did too. Who knows? "Why does everyone keep asking me that?" he asked in wonder.

Sawada got flustered and waved his hands in front of him, trying to salvage the situation (?). "N- n- nothing at all!" he panicked. "Y- you just seem a little different today! (And you're calling me Sawada-_san_ instead of 'you' or anything.)" The expression on the brunet's face shouted _You're already beyond that level; you're a completely different person!_… but oh well.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Kyouya said embarrassed a bit. "I mean, you all seem different too… is it just me? Wait, don't I always call you that?" At this point, the poor raven was thoroughly confused.

Sawada panicked again. "Er… no… but, but if you want to, that's perfectly okay!"

Ignoring the flustered Disciplinary Committee Chairma- wait… chairman… that was what Tetsuya had called him earlier. Was this something to do with the Bet? Anyway, ignoring the flustered Disciplinary Committee Chairman, Kyouya looked around, realizing something. "Hey, have any of you seen Fong? I didn't see him earlier, bu-"

"Ciaossu, Hibari," a squeaky voice interrupted him. He turned expectantly, but was greeted only by Reborn. Wait… Reborn? He was _tiny!_

"Oh, hi Reborn-san," he greeted cheerfully. "Have you seen Fong? And you seem shorter today."

"Fong went back to China a while ago," the… now-infant said helpfully.

"Really? That's odd, he usually tells me first."

"Reborn!" Sawada exclaimed. "Aren't you going to say anything! ?"

With a small 'don't talk back to me, Dame-Tsuna,' Reborn leapt of the window sill he was perched on and kicked Sawada straight in the face, propelling him into a wall.

"R- Reborn-san!" Gokudera gasped, rushing over to the brunet's aid.

As Kyouya watched, Sawada refused Gokudera's aid, insisting that he was alright. Yamamoto laughed and tried starting up a conversation with him, but their talk was interrupted by a very loud shout.

"Sawada!" the incoming figure roared. "Are you ready to join the extreme boxing club yet! ?"

"O- onii-san!" Sawada exclaimed, turning in the direction that Kyouya was looking away from. "I- I told you, I can't!"

_That voice… sounds oddly like…_ with a feeling of dread, Kyouya whipped his head around, to see Ryohei tearing down the hallway towards them. Panicking, he dashed off in the opposite direction. "He's coming! Aaaaaaaaaah! It's Ryohei!"

As Ryohei screeched to a halt in front of the others, they all watched the rapidly disappearing Kyouya, wincing when the sounds of tripping down two flights of stairs reached their ears (or rather, only Sawada did, while Yamamoto laughed, Gokudera muttered under his breath, Ryohei seemed oblivious, and Reborn was nowhere to be seen). "Onii-san, did you do anything to Hibari-san?" the petit brunet asked warily.

Ryohei grinned and replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

_So, for one thing, I finally got off my butt and got caught up with the Inheritance Ceremony. And… well, I guess I'm just one of those people that accepts everything as it is, but I've always known that. Now, after a bit of ranting about how rash everyone is and how silly the human race can be (I do this on a daily basis), I've come to terms with myself and find myself straight back at square one. I don't hate any of them, in fact, I rather like all of the characters in every circle I've come across (as little as I admit that aloud and as strange as it seems to those in my classes, it's true). I like to think that I sort of understand how they all feel, but I can't do that. Either way, I don't hate them for their actions, though I may seem to, and I think it's understandable that they behave this way, despite their extreme tendencies. Although I can't look at Adelheide for more than a few seconds. Nor Shitopi-chan, but I can hold that a bit longer (long story, don't feel like explaining)._

_Now that that's off my chest… someone kill me. I apologize for doing very badly orz I guess I'm just not satisfied with myself, because I… haven't been able to accomplish much during this break. I've hardly drawn, hardly written, hardly read, barely touched my homework. I guess I'm just disappointed with myself- BUT, that aside, I'll continue trying! And I apologize for the uselessly long author's note, but I guess I simply lack the ability to be concise. Er… have… have a nice break, everyone!  
_


	8. Intruders

_I realize that this is extremely overdue, and I apologize. I was having trouble getting from point A to point C. That should be cleared up now, though, so I'll try to keep moving. Thank you all for being so patient._

* * *

_Note to self: try to be less clumsy._

Rubbing his head ruefully, Kyouya pushed himself up and ran a hand through his hair. It wasn't all that funny when he tripped down one or three flights of stairs, but he couldn't help but give a light, amused snort. Even though everyone else was different, he was just the same as always. He almost wanted to laugh out loud at the crazed thought, but he didn't want to disturb any classes. How ironic it would have been for the (temporary) Disciplinary Committee Leader to disrupt the order himself!

Instead he rubbed his nose, sore from falling on his face. Feeling wetness, he pulled it away to find blood on his hands. _Drat, nosebleed,_ he thought, grimacing a bit at the sight of his own blood. It never really sat well with him to see fresh blood. Usually it was his own from being bullied (he'd had punch-induced nosebleeds more times than he could count from one to ten in a week), but it bothered him when other people bled too.

Like when Sawada went hunting. That was pretty scary to see the aftermath. A few maimed bodies here, some broken noses there, a bit of blood splattered on the wall over there… and Tsunayoshi Sawada would never have so much as a single mark on his person. It was rather disturbing sometimes. (Scratch that, it was always terrifying. Especially when he turned to look at you. _With blood coating his gloves_.)

All that aside, he stood up, dusted his pants off, and straightened his hair (it always flew every which-way when he tripped and fell). He thought a bit more. Perhaps Sawada was getting so in-character that everyone else started acting different too? It was a huge stretch, but… it was a safer guess than his earlier ones. (Most of which included elements of either a 1960's science-fiction movie or a cliché fanfiction written by a 12-year old girl. Either way, all of his theories made about as much sense as Yamamoto's speeches about UMAs and the Vongolian people of Vongola Planet or whatever it was.)

Taking a breath, he began his 3rd period patrol. It just wouldn't do to leave things hanging, and if Tetsuya needed to find him, he'd said he'd be patrolling, so he would.

Actually, first he needed to go to the bathroom. Sawada probably wouldn't be happy if there were random flecks of blood in the hallways.

…

It wasn't too long before he found a crowd to deal with. Strangely enough, they were right outside by the baseball diamond, huddled between the storage shed and wall. Taking a quick peek, he realized that they were different from the ones he had taken care of in his dream (if he went with that theory). And they were more scary-looking, too.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to wipe the stupid look off of his face. _Easy Kyouya, just relax. Pretend you're in Hyper Dying Will Mode or something; that always helps. I think. You can do this._

He tried to make his face as Sawada-like as possible (which was probably hardly like it, so he chose to narrow his eyes and smile, hoping it would be creepy enough). Tapping his tonfa against the wall, he called, "Hey… what are you three doing here?"

The three in question quickly whirled around. Seeing him, the two in the front jerked upwards and froze, while the one in the back began inching away backwards, muttering something. He strained a bit to hear the fast mumbling, but as far as he could make out, it was "It's Hibari, oh gods it's Hibari. Oh man, he's smiling, _he's smiling._ We're all gonna die, _we're all gonna die_!" (Perhaps omitting a few words that he couldn't quite make out.)

Using the end of a tonfa, he pointed at the third figure who was shuffling away. "He likes to repeat himself, doesn't he?" The third boy shut up immediately, and the other two squirmed underneath the accusing tonfa-point.

_Good, you have their attention,_ a voice in the back of his mind whispered. It sounded a bit like how Yamamoto-kun had always described his Hyper Dying Will Mode voice (although perhaps omitting the poetic descriptions and flattering compliments on how cool was). And, for some strange reason, he couldn't say that it didn't sound somewhat like Sawada's voice as well. _Keep going._

He wrinkled his nose; the smell of their cold sweating was starting to waft over. "You three smell awful," he spat out, resisting the urge to gag on his breath. His mind raced, and he came to the conclusion that he really did not want to fight these three. He would probably lose. _Conclusion: you'll have to bluff._ Yes, thank you, for pointing out the obvious. _No problem_.

"You know, I'm feeling unusually merciful today," he said, trying to look contemplative. The three remained where they were. "Well? Get back to class before I change my mind and bite you all to death." The three didn't need to be told twice; they disappeared faster than Namimori River's current.

Plopping down, he decided to lean against the side wall and close his eyes for a bit.

_You seem tired._

' That's because I am. '

_But you didn't do anything!_

' I know that. '

_Hasn't it struck you that that was way too easy?_

' Not really… '

_Well it should. Didn't you see how they were terrified before they even saw you?_

' Isn't that their problem? They're going back to class, aren't they? '

… _Sure, but…_

"Don't you think that was a bit too easy?"

Kyouya's eyes snapped open. That voice, where did it come fro- oh. Looking up, he found himself staring directly at Mukuro Rokudo (in actuality, he was a Dokuro, the same as Nagi, but he always insisted that 'six paths' sounded much more manly than 'skull.' Kyouya didn't see the difference).

Anyway, Mukuro seemed to be having a light stroll through the trees on the edges of the schoolyard a short distance away, Ken and Chikusa walking 3 paces behind him. "Oh. Hello," the pineapple-haired boy greeted, seeming just as shocked as Kyouya was.

Kyouya rubbed his eyes for a moment. There was no reason that Mukuro should be out here, especially walking with Ryohei's two… er… friends was a bit of a stretch, perhaps. Regardless of their presence, Mukuro should be in class; he was one of the students who was an awful scholar, but sat in class regardless (though it was a mindless attention he paid and he didn't understand a word of the teacher's classes). "Oh, hello nii-san," Kyouya replied, remaining sitting. "I thought you were in class."

If anything, the other's face contorted into something mixed of contempt, shock, disgust, and utter confusion. "… I'm sorry, come again? The last time I checked, I was neither a student here nor anywhere. I attended Kokuyo Middle for a short time before taking up residence in the remains of an abandoned amusement park between the boundaries of Kokuyo and Namimori. That, and you absolutely loathed seeing my face; I am most certainly not your brother or anything close to it."

Kyouya was utterly surprised. "No, I walked by your classroom last period and you were sitting there. Your little sister's in my class; she sits in front of Haru Miura." At the thought of sweet Nagi Dokuro, he blushed a bit and sighed. She was so nice, so cute, so… _perfect._ She was a good student, kind to anyone and everyone, and she had the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. Shaking his head of the thoughts (the other three looked at him in confusion), he adopted a thinking pose, resting his chin between thumb and index finger. "If you're not here, then where's Nagi?"

"Nagi?" Mukuro repeated. "Oh, Chrome? You should know the answer to that question, Kyouya Hibari. She's not my sister, anyhow."

"Chrome? I don't know; who's that?" A sudden thought struck the raven. "Have you ever noticed how the sign on Kokuyo Land doesn't say 'Healthy Land' like it's supposed to?" he asked out of the blue.

"No, I haven't. I can't read Japanese."

"You can't? But you live here. Anyway, it actually says–"

One of the two subordinates chose this moment to interrupt. "Mukuro-san," Ken snarled. "Can't we just clean up this guy and go get the Vongola?"

Mukuro shushed the blond. "In a moment, Ken. Right now I'm interested in-" For the second time, he was interrupted. Turning to face the skylark, both Mukuro's and Ken's jaws dropped (Chikusa remained impassive). "Is there any particular reason why you're… laughing…?"

Kyouya gripped his stomach and doubled over as he shook his head, trying to stop laughing and failing utterly. This continued for a good 20 seconds at least. "I… It's just…" he wheezed, trying to get the words out on failing breath. "Hahaha! It's just that- hehe- Ken's talking like Chikusa!"

This time, Chikusa twitched/froze and dropped whatever it was he had been holding. "Ahahaha, okay, I'm good," Kyouya finished, getting his act together. "Anyway, since you're not attacking me right now even though you said Vongola, I'm going to assume that you're actually looking for Sawada-san. We traded today so he's in 1-A where I usually sit. Or at least, he should be." He readopted his thinking pose for a moment, before continuing, "By the way, what's with everyone today?"

There followed a long stretch of silence in which Mukuro was the first to recover. "Actually," he said, "I think there's something about _you_ today. Are you sure you're entirely sane?"

Kyouya smiled slightly in reply. "Mukuro, I hang out with Yamamoto-kun and Gokudera (and you and Sawada-san are probably a stretch), and my tutor is apparently a 2-year old Chinese assassin. Obviously I have to be a little bit insane from all the stuff that gets thrown at me everyday."

Mukuro grinned. "True, but you must know that you _are_ at least a small bit saner than the Arcobaleno and your two friends."

"Touché," Kyouya shrugged.

"Anyway, we had better get going," Mukuro said, putting a hand on Ken's shoulder and steering him away. "We were planning on terrorizing the Vongola today, but perhaps we should come back at another time when he's not… ah… _occupied_. (Are you sure you're not being possessed? By him?)"

Kyouya stood up, dusted his pants off, and waved the three away. "Oh, okay," he called, "Bye, the- hey, wait! You dropped something!"

But the three had already hopped the fence and disappeared from view. Confused, he looked down at the item in his hand.

"What were they planning on doing with Ryohei's trident?"

* * *

_As always, I feel like I should write another omake for making you all wait for a while. But I'm lacking in muse right now, so I apologize._


	9. Things Fall Apart

_I'm really very sorry about the long wait on this chapter, but there's not really much that can be done about it. I hit a pothole, and only just overrode it two days ago… while my internet was on a continuous outage. Oh well, I made good use of the lack of distraction, I think. (Also, I thought I would be able to upload this… almost three weeks ago. Oops.)  
_

* * *

Returning to his patrols, Kyouya began walking around with the trident gripped in his hand. He chuckled to himself, thinking about how Kyoko always held it. Close to her chest, gripping it with both hands, sometimes even using it to support herself when she was weakened. He thought about the differences between Ryohei and Kyoko. They were similar, being illusionists, but Kyoko was much more timid, lacking confidence oftentimes. He still was surprised to think about how competent he knew she could be though; thinking about that battle with the Varia arcobaleno, she was amazingly well-handled… well, until the accursed (in more ways than one) infant destroyed her trident with his own illusions. Verde really could be terrible sometimes when he wasn't busy money-grubbing. On the other hand, Ryohei was much more critical and blunt in his comments. He was also much more cryptic. And that was annoying for them all when he decided they needed a challenge.

That aside, the next crowd he'd come across while daydreaming had turned tail immediately when they spotted the new weapon in his hands. He didn't blame them; it looked rather frightening to him, too. (More so when Ryohei was holding it, but that was beside the point. It was _made_ for the guy, after all.) He didn't mind, really; it made his job easier, for one thing, and avoided unnecessary violence for another. Both consequences that suited his purpose well.

On the other hand, he could never really try to sneak up on the rule-breakers to try and find out what they were up to before the long trident would invariably knock something over or scrape against a wall loudly and give away his presence. It came with being clumsy, he supposed.

He was starting to get annoyed by everyone avoiding him, actually. _(Perhaps a three or a five.)_ Once, he'd tried to talk to Sawada, and he'd hardly opened his mouth before the (supposedly) eternally-cheerful Gokudera was upon him, screaming and shouting and practically foaming at the mouth. He'd been so surprised that he'd accidentally smacked him on the cheek with a tonfa before leaving with a huff and a great amount of guilt and fear.

(He'd actually been able to "bite" someone just before, so he'd been carrying them around in his hands instead of collapsed. [Although, all that really happened was coincidence. He'd screamed for the older student to shut up before taking a swing. As luck would have it, the tonfa actually connected with the boy's gut, and he'd gone down with a gasp, smacking his head forcefully against a wall on the way down. Kyouya managed to drag the unconscious body into a sitting position against a shed; he hoped someone would find the poor guy.] The trident he had unscrewed and collapsed, before tucking it away into one of the hidden pockets that he had found Sawada had sewn into the inside of the gakuran, having _finally_ remembered how Kyoko carried it.)

Needless to say, Gokudera had been swearing after his retreating back, and he hadn't been able to even get within three meters of his replacement.

With his mind beginning to wear thin with confusion and worry (was something really going on? Was he just losing his mind? Was all this a dream?), Kyouya decided to sleep. He began making his way towards the reception room (those couches were really, really comfy), then felt some guilt about the pile of paperwork he had left there unfinished. Making a full 180-degree turn, he began making his way towards the stairs. Maybe the roof would be nice.

…

Kyouya lay on the rooftop. It was warm, the sun, but it wasn't helping him any.

He remembered I-Pin giving Sawada an interview once; he'd said that the sun was warm even in winter (although, that had been Fong's question). Sawada was always sleeping up here, so it was relaxing to him, right? Mostly what Kyouya associated this rooftop with were the lunches that he and his friends often spent up here (and Gokudera committing an almost-suicide). Speaking of which, how long had it been since he had asked Yamamoto-kun for the time?

He shaded his eyes with an arm and looked up. The sky was heavily overcast, and it hurt his eyes a bit to look at the bright whiteness. Overcast skies… it reminded him of how he was feeling at the moment. The clouds were so thick that it was almost fog. He was so confused that he felt like he couldn't see whatever was in front of him. Not where he was going, not what was around him, not who was walking with him. It was disheartening.

He sighed, closing his eyes to think. Lately, all the poems he'd been writing in Language Arts class had been about weather. He couldn't help it, really, not when everyone close to him had been likened to the patterns. _"They're good poems, Hibari-kun, although it's surprising to find such deep symbolism coming from your work,"_ the teacher had said. _"But try to find some other inspiration. I know that a lot of poets look at cloud shadows and rainy days and lightning storms, and I'm glad you're getting the hang of it, but it would be great if you could come up with something outside of that comfort zone."_ Come to think of it, he still didn't know why Sawada had even accepted the ring. It was alright for Fong to say that he was perfectly fit to be the Cloud _because_ of his solitary personality, but was it alright for Sawada to accept that? According to the infant, Clouds were one of the more integral parts of the web. They gave rise to storms, released the rain, revealed (or hid) the sun, and, when fallen, became mi–

Wait.

Kyouya's eyes snapped open, though he squinted immediately from how bright it was.

Getting up, he decided to try just sitting on top of the water tower. Perhaps it would be easier to think there if he could see the whole school.

But as soon as he had walked five steps, he banged into something. The sound of vibrating metal reached his ears. "Ow!" he yelped, jumping back and rubbing his nose. He took another look. There was nothing there.

_He was so confused that he felt like he couldn't see whatever was in front of him._

He looked up again. He looked up at the sky, the overcast so thick that it was almost fog, a dome of clouds. It had been a sunny day earlier.

A fog so thick that it looked like…

* * *

_A word of forewarning: the next is incredibly short, and I mean incredibly short. Please don't be alarmed by it. That being said, I think you all really deserve an omake. Or two. I was asked to do another 2718 one… well… I sort of want to do that plus another, different one. I'm planning to do the latter when I upload Chapter 10, whenever that may be. Please bear with me!_

_Edit: Sorry, that was the situation a while ago. I decided on a chapter order that works better, I think, so it will be Chapter _11_ that will be short, not 10. Although, that means that you all will have to wait longer for 10… I'm sorry! Please don't throw anything at me!  
_

* * *

He likes clouds.

It doesn't imply anything, and it means nothing but what it says. It is a statement of fact, just as other things are.

He likes fighting. He has chestnut hair and amber eyes. He is sitting on the rooftop of the Namimori Middle School which he loves so. He looks up. "What do you want, Kyouya Hibari?"

"Haha… so you _did_ notice…" laughing awkwardly, a small black-haired boy stepped out of his "hiding" place from behind a radiator.

"Of course I would," Tsunayoshi Sawada replies, granting the underclassman only a bored glance. It's fact, not boasting. Sawada notices nearly everything that goes on within his hearing and sight ranges. It was said that his sense of smell was good too, but no one had ever bothered to check up on him about that.

Now that Sawada thought about it, it should have been difficult to sneak up on Kyouya. What was it the infant had called it? Hyper intuition? And yet that only seemed to work when there was somebody else…

Then again, there was that one time when Kyouya had managed to sneak fairly close before being noticed when he laughed too loudly; one of the times Sawada had been teaching Tsubird to sing.

"But really, what do you want?"

Wordlessly, Kyouya pointed to the lunch held in his hand before replying. "Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera and I usually eat up here, but they're both out today so I was thinking of eating here anyway when I saw you."

Sawada stood up. "Go ahead and eat here; I don't mind." He turned around and, with a few pulls and jumps, made his way on top of the shack-like structure of the stairs before sitting down, leaning against the water tower.

Time passed in silence, neither looking at the other.

Instead, both watched the clouds drifting lazily in the blue sky.


	10. What Sawada Did

… Mist.

It was everywhere, and it was _annoying_. Sawada growled, pushing his way through the obscuring fog. It had rolled in almost before he had stepped out of the school gates, and it wasn't going anywhere. Either there was a freak weather change and a massive wall of it had decided to creep in, or it was following him. Neither possibility boded well with the Disciplinary Committee Leader.

He had seen Kyouya fall, and it was clearly the illusionist's doing. This mist too, then, must be. It was convenient that Sawada knew his way around the town (he didn't get lost on his way), and had good ears (he would hear cars approaching and get out of the way).

_Stupid fog,_ he thought angrily, pushing forward. If Ryohei Sasagawa had enough _gall_ to show up on _his_ turf, well then, Tsunayoshi Sawada was about to do a little invading of his own.

…

Slipping through the ancient gate (sliced shards of what used to be a heavy padlock were scattered around, as were bits of the gate itself… oh well), he was struck with an odd sense of déjà vu. The mist, which had been clinging to his clothes like so many bothersome insects, had remained outside. He looked up. The sky was overcast now, like a dome of fog had been formed around Kokuyo Healthy Land. A barrier.

Disregarding the odd weather, he walked further into his enemy's territory. He stepped over the carcasses of a few dead wolves and raccoons (among other creatures), half-expecting to be jumped at some time by an idiotic thug, just like before. But nothing came. Everything was quiet.

When he went around a jagged-looking hole in the ground (he remembered coming to this park a long time ago; if he remembered correctly, a glass plant and animal dome had been in that spot, before being buried underneath a mudslide), a figure materialized out of the air in front of him.

Well, half a figure. Ryohei's body, from the torso up, was floating in front of him, the bottom half trailing off into dusty yellow particles. "And what might you be looking for in _my_ area, Tsunayoshi Sawada?" he asked, an amused smile playing on his lips.

"Where is he," the other demanded. He was going to stand no nonsense; kidnapping would be seen as a direct assault on Namimori Middle School students, and if destroying Ryohei was involved, then, well, he had no complaints.

"Where is who?" Ryohei asked, letting out an amused snort. "I have no idea at all."

Sawada's eyes narrowed. Now wasn't the time for this. "Where is Kyouya Hibari?" he said slowly, spelling out and enunciating each syllable.

"I extremely don't know," Ryohei answered, chuckling and leaning back with his arms tucked behind his head. "He could be anywhere around here. This is an extremely large place, you know; easy to get lost in. But…" The half-body dissolved, as the crumbling building and courtyard melted away into a replica of _his_ school. "Why don't we play a game, Sawada-kun?"

"I don't play by your rules," the brunet growled out.

A sinister laugh echoed around him. "Then there are no rules, only conditions for the winner to meet. And here they are: either you find the Vongola, or I break him. Whoever succeeds first, and all means are orthodox."

The laugh cut off without warning, and Sawada was left in silence again. He looked up at the clouded sky and sighed. There was nothing for it.

…

His plan had been to enter the building and immediately begin searching from top to bottom (er, bottom to top). However, that had been hindered by a slight _predicament_…

"Yo, dame-Tsuna!" some stupid first-year called, thumping him forcefully on the back. Caught by surprise, Sawada hopped forward a step.

"Would you be a pal and do the after-school clean-up for us?" his companion grinned. Neither seemed to notice the fierce glare that was sent at them.

Sawada had no idea who was really controlling the illusions that he was shown. However, one thing was certain, based on this totally _disrespectful_ behavior everyone was giving him. _So that's how it is, then… _"Yeah, sure," he answered, agreeing if only to get them _away_ from him so he could continue his business.

"Thanks, buddy!" the first laughed, thumping his shoulder again (he grimaced). "I'll pay you back eventually, okay?"

The two quickly departed, leaving Sawada alone. Inwardly, he seethed. He was going to send that stupid illusionist back through each and every one of his six hells, including Sawada's own personal serving. And he was going to enjoy every moment of it.

…

Imagine his surprise when he had been pushed into a classroom that wasn't his by a teacher that wasn't his. "Sawada-kun, class is about to start; you should get back to your seat," he had been told.

He was about to complain when he saw a head of brown hair that looked like his, but wasn't, talking to another familiar figure. Drat, he was being duped.

However, Sawada wasn't rash. He knew what moderation was, and he was willing to wait. He would have to bide his time, and that would make his win all the better. Sitting down, he waited until the herbivore's two friends re-entered the classroom. He saw the illusion of himself disappear as he entered and, satisfied, he decided to sit and wait. He passed the time by staring out the window.

…

As soon as break time came around, he all but ran out the door (he would have, if so many bothersome students weren't in his way, jostling him out of the line leading into the hallway). No doubt Ryohei was trying to toy with him, stall and hinder Sawada's movements while he took his sweet time in winning his game.

Sawada's face twisted into a sort of half-snarl/grimace/heavy frown as he pushed his way through the student body. It was true that he accepted the students as a part of Nami Middle that simply couldn't be changed (and anyway it brought liveliness to his day when he found the troublemakers amongst them). However...

First and foremost, these were _illusions_. Fakes. He simply hated falsified things, and anyway he hated them simply for being illusions. Lousy illusionist. Furthermore, did they have to be so annoying _right now_? Honestly. Getting in his way, talking loudly, pushing and shoving each other, it was all just so _irritating_ and sliced away generously at his patience.

He kept time with his wristwatch. All breaks between the fifty-minute classes were ten minutes to make a schedule that could be numbered in hours. He's spent roughly three minutes just getting out of the class, and five getting out of the hallway. Sure that Mukuro would send someone to usher him back to his "class," he turned corners and went up and down stairs. Coming to the door he needed, he entered without knocking.

The man who was inside jumped and turned to him. "Chair-" he began, but shut up immediately. "Sawada-san, is there something you need?"

Sawada frowned. Tetsuya Kusakabe, young Tenth boss of one of the Vongola's closest families. Ordinarily, Sawada would've jumped into a fight and tried to strangle the black-haired man then and there. But no. Moderation and wisdom. "Actually, there is," he said, pulling a smile that looked, for lack of any more fitting word or euphemism, absolutely murderous. "I'm looking for Hibari. Have you seen him?"

Tetsuya contemplated the question. "No, I'm afraid I haven't," he replied eventually. "He actually left the Reception Room close to the beginning of last period. He's probably patrolling." Crossing his arms, the apparent Vice-Chairman (who seemed to have replaced Reborn) bent his head a little to think harder, brows knitting together in concentration. "Chances are, he's either down in the grounds or up on the rooftop... either one would be plausible. Oh, Sawada-san, class is starting right now, perhaps you should–"

The sentence was never finished. When Tetsuya looked up, the door was open and Tsunayoshi Sawada was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

_Never mind what I said before; here's the next chapter._

* * *

"I'm telling you, this is impossible!"

"And I'm telling you to do it anyway."

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie!"

Worriedly, Takeshi Yamamoto knocked on the door to the Hibaris' home. When nobody answered, he simply entered anyway (fortunately without having to kick the door down…). Running up the stairs, he threw the door open with a cry of "Tenth! Is everything alright! ?"

Groaning, Kyouya, who was sporting several magnificent bruises and a few dark marks that looked rather like burns managed to pull himself up into a sitting position and wave wearily at the black-haired mafioso. "Oh, hi Yamamoto-kun," he greeted with a small smile. "Didn't know you came in. And yeah, we're just studying."

"Then please allow me to assist you!" Yamamoto cried, practically throwing himself at the smaller boy. Kyouya shrieked in surprise a both went down.

On the table, Fong was standing by with a megaphone in hand on top of a black box. "Why don't you let him?" he said, smirking, before turning to the one in question. "Hey, Yamamoto, can you go grab some of Gokudera's dynamites? I need them for Dame-Kyou's training."

Elated, Yamamoto gave a hearty salute: "Of course, Fong-san! If it will assist the Tenth's learning!" before peeling out of the house and making a turn towards Gokudera's home/family pharmacy.

Running into the store, Yamamoto looked around and made straight for the man behind the counter. "Hey!" he shouted, rather grouchily. The dark-haired man looked up in surprise. "I'm looking for Gokudera, is he here?"

The man, Shamal Gokudera, grinned. "Yo, Takeshi-kun," he greeted, waving from behind his computer. "You're looking for Hayato? Haven't seen him; he left earlier this morning."

Disappointed, Yamamoto left to return to the Tenth's house.

Only to find that Gokudera had gotten there while he had been away. "You stupid baseball idiot!" he raged, marching in and shouting in the silver-haired boy's face. "Why weren't you where I could find you! ?" For the next few minutes he ranted and raved, throwing insults and threats and curses, many of which should not have been said.

Gokudera only laughed humorously. "Haha, hey Yamamoto!" he greeted. "Why, were you looking for me?"

"It's okay, Yamamoto-kun," Kyouya assured him. Yamamoto was still pretty upset, though.

That was, until the door opened again. "Oh, Takeshi," Squalo greeted. "I was wondering why it was so noisy up here, do you all want any snacks?"

"Gah, Aniki!"

In and instant, Takeshi's face paled and became an unnatural green shade as he crumpled onto the floor, clutching his stomach.

"Haha!" Gokudera laughed, watching with amusement. "Yamamoto really can't handle his brother, can he?"

Then the smallest turned to his tutor. "So, Fong… why did you want to borrow Gokudera's dynamites, anyway?" Upon hearing that, Gokudera gladly offered them several straight off the bat, which Fong refused to both the boys' surprise.

The infant smirked, and pointed to the black video camera that had been sitting on the table. The red "recording" light was on. "I just wanted to see Yamamoto flail."

* * *

_I'll see you all in at least a week; hope you had fun!_


	11. Conclusion

Kyouya ran through the hallways, not caring that he was breaking at least three school rules at once. After all, who was going to stop him in this place?

He ran down the stairs, nearly tripping and killing himself in the process. Thankfully, his arm reflexively shot out and grabbed the banister, stopping his nose from being smashed into the floor by barely five centimeters. Reaching the first floor, he walked _calmly_ and _cooly_ down the hall… before running up the stairs on the other end of the corridor. Oh well, so much for being controlled.

In his panicked mindset, he couldn't even find his own homeroom. It was irritating, why couldn't he _think_? An annoying buzzing sound that wasn't there before was blocking his thoughts. He'd been putting it off as a headache, and that was why he'd been meaning to sleep it off. So much for that.

Rounding a corner, he ran smack into something. Jumping back, he rubbed his still sore nose and looked up.

Sawada was glaring at him, orange eyes nearly alight with rage.

_Drat, I'm gonna die._

Instead of killing or otherwise injuring the underclassman, however, Sawada only held out his gloved hand. "Give it to me," he growled.

"Give you what?" Kyouya asked, confused.

Sawada kept his hand outstretched. "You have it, don't you? Ryohei's trident."

Kyouya made an "oh" sound, before taking off the jacket. He rummaged in the pocket, managing to find both the staff and the trident head. He snapped the staff back into one piece, and screwed the head back on, before handing it over.

Without another word, Sawada took it and snapped the shaft over his knee.

* * *

_And there you have it. Chapter 11. It may be a while before chapter 12 again, as I'm getting into a busy time (actually, this whole summer is rather busy), and it's not written yet unlike how I had chapters 9 - 11 written before I uploaded any of them. Sorry!_


	12. The Battle

_I'm sure you all know the drill by now. So, without further ado..._

_Lulz._

* * *

When Kyouya came to, he initially didn't because of a massive head rush, quickly followed by a splitting headache. He groaned, clutching his head.

"Oh, you're awake?"

"... huh?"

The unfamiliar voice broke through the spell of darkness, and Kyouya blinked as light assaulted his eyes. The sky was blue, so it was daytime. Just past noon, if he judged by the sun. He was hanging over something, as he could tell by the way his head was angled and his stomach was beginning to hurt where it was bent over that "something." And they were moving; he could see how the black thing moved over the cement of a sidewalk.

When he finally realized just who was carrying him, Kyouya's first reaction was something along the lines of screaming "Hiiie! I- I'm sorry!", attempting to scramble away, and subsequently falling off and hitting his head.

"Just how much of a klutz are you?" Sawada asked rhetorically with a small sigh, as he began counting on his fingers. "Honestly, you're a pain the neck. First you're not much of a leader, then you get yourself trapped by that grass weed, not to mention making me _waste time_ having to go save you... oh, and did I mention?"

Kyouya flinched each time a new felony was listed. After a moment of dumb silence, he managed to squeak out, no, Sawada had not mentioned a fifth point yet.

"You lost."

And the black-haired boy's already pale face bleached itself white. He gulped nervously before speaking again. "Y- you mean...?"

Sawada stared down at Kyouya with a cold, merciless look in his eyes."I'll see you after school."

And with that, he turned and began walking down the road alone.

…

The remainder of the day passed uneventfully. Pulling the teacher of of Sawada's class, the two boys explained why this shouldn't be counted (naturally, he agreed, knowing both Kyouya's honesty and Sawada's demeanor in general), Sawada aced every problem while not paying attention in class, Yamamoto attempted a sort of rivalry with Sawada (which included a one-sided race when they were both called up to write the answers to some problems on the blackboard), Gokudera then had to drag Yamamoto back to his desk when the black-haired boy began cursing up a storm (har har har), Nagi was congratulated on her excellent reading of a text excerpt, Haru pulled Nagi away from trying to talk to Sawada, etc.

On the other hand, while Sawada was having nice, normal classes, that certainly did not involve any explosives whatsoever (aside from the explosion from a certain katana kid), two floors above on the rooftop, Kyouya was pacing the soles off of his shoes, a nervous habit.

"I don't see what the problem is," Fong said, amusedly watching his student tugging at his bangs, another nervous habit. "You lost, therefore you face the consequences. And you better not lose, Loser Kyou."

"You could at least be a little sympathetic," Kyouya said, turning when he ran out of room to continue pacing. "I'll bet Sawada-san's angry. I'm sure he is. That means he won't take it easy on me, right? And this is Sawada-san! There's no way I can win! You said so yourself, he's the 'Strongest Guardian,' right! ?"

"He wouldn't hold back either way," Fong pointed out. "And besides..." Taking a turn for the dramatic, Fong hopped to the door. "... Sawada may be the strongest guardian, but without the Sky there is no where for the Cloud to float."

As the door swung shut, Kyouya looked up at the sky. Beneath the blue of the midday, puffy white clouds gathered along the horizon, drifting lazily as though to circle his field of vision, taking all the time in the world.

"Without the Sky, there is no where for the Cloud to float..."

…

Three hours passed since the two boys has returned to school. Three hours and thirty-five minutes if one counted the end-of-the-day homeroom time and subtracted the time of their lateness to the beginning of fourth period class.

For Sawada, that was three hours and thirty-five minutes wasted. He could have spent it doing paperwork, or patrolling, or strangling some worthless low-life who thought it would be funny to write obscene language on the north side wall of the B building. But no. He had to sit in a classroom that was a year younger than him, taking lessons that he'd already learned years ago, and listening to people babble about useless things. To all the females: you don't have to pretend to whisper; we can all hear you talking about the girl with thick glasses who sits in the front row, or about Gokudera Hayato's latest archery team achievement. But nobody really cares. To all the males: the size of your simian arm muscles does not matter; please return to your schoolwork and focus in class before the idea of strangling you with my _own_ arms becomes quite appealing.

Wisdom and moderation. He sighed, turning his head to stare lazily out the window. A nap sounded nice right now, but he could do that later. He cracked a few knuckles, his fingers having grown stiff from lack of use during the school day. Even if he couldn't do anything interesting now, that would make his fight with Kyouya Hibari later all the more thrilling. It was strange, really; sometimes weak, sometimes strong, Kyouya Hibari was a being that Sawada had difficulty understanding, and that made him intrigued enough to want to fight him. Though he had been interesting when it was just the intensely shrunken pupils and a bright flame, when he had grown stronger, Hibari's eyes had changed to an iridescent violet, the same color as his flame. Even now, Sawada's hand twitched in anticipation. It made him excited to battle against something that he knew little about.

On the other hand was Kyouya, for whom the time was three hours and thirty-five minutes to stall. He paced, he pondered, he panicked, and repeated. This continued until Fong, who had returned, got fed up an hour in and kicked the raven-haired boy in the back of the head.

…

At last the bell rang to signal the end of the school day, and under Sawada's orders (who had dropped by during the last break to let him know), Reborn gave a school-wide announcement over the PA system that all students and faculty were encouraged to leave as quickly as possible; the Disciplinary Committee had some business to attend to that could potentially and would more than likely be dangerous, particularly to the average citizen. On their way out the door, Yamamoto and Gokudera discreetly patted Kyouya on the back as he walked by. He smiled.

…

Despite the dramatic prologue to the battle, the beginning of the fight itself was free of nearly all pomp and circumstance. Two lines, two meters apart, had been scraped in the dirt of the courtyard, almost like a sumo wrestling ring. And just the same, two boys stood, one behind each line, facing each other.

"If you win, I swear that I will publicly acknowledge your strength," Sawada said, his gloves already out.

Timidly, Kyouya could only nod.

"Likewise, if I win, then I'll be deciding your punishment."

Again, Kyouya could only nod.

Swallowing audibly, Kyouya spoke up, having finally found his voice. "Actually, Sawada-san, since I can't possibly win against you, I was just thinking, could we just skip the battle and go straight to the cleanup duty?"

"No." All hope died within Kyouya with that one word. On the other hand, Sawada's smirk only widened. "You're the one who said that you could prove that you were not weak, Kyouya Hibari. I'll have you stand by that."

"Actually Sawada-san I really think-"

"Challenge accepted."

Kyouya turned to shout at a grinning Fong, but instead he was knocked backwards as something was launched into his open mouth, choking him. "I'll be granting that wish. So fight, Loser-Kyo."

"Wow." Sensing the change in atmosphere, Sawada dropped into a fighting stance as Kyouya sat back up in a crouch. "I don't know how this works exactly… but I may actually have some fun today. I wonder if you'll be able to die enough?"

Beneath an oscillating purple flame, violet eyes met orange ones as Kyouya spoke in a voice that was much lower and controlled than his usual one. "Sawada..." he said, tonfa in both hands as he stood up. "Right here... I'm going to bite you to death."

Kyouya charged, weapons ablaze.

Sawada intended to give him his just desserts.

The battle began.

…

Because of the chosen battle location, time, and prior announcement, collateral damage was kept to a minimum. Which was just as well for Kyouya, as it would have only added to his bloated list of things to be regretful about. Not the least of which was the first statement he had uttered to Sawada yesterday.

Everything ached. He was positive that he had given his arm a third-degree sprain, if not a break, as he couldn't even move the left one anymore beyond the elbow. His back was scratched intensely from the numerous times he had attempted to get away through grappling hook, only to be thwarted when Sawada grabbed him by the ankles and threw him back down. Which also injured his legs, being pulled like that. Everything else hurt from being grabbed, punched, pulled, or smacked in some form, whether directly by Sawada's steel gloves or indirectly by being thrown into something. Winded, he lay on the dusty grounds in the center of a small crater, unable to muster up the energy to even kneel back up.

Sawada looked down on him with undisguised disgust. He, too, was panting heavily, orange eyes glowering as he stood tall. One of his gloves had shards of ice clinging to it, and his face and arms were streaked with bloody scratches, shallow but numerous, where Kyouya had managed to get a hit with either the "teeth" on his tonfa or the sharp hooks on the end of the concealed chain.

"Too bad," Sawada breathed out, finally.

With a pained groan, Kyouya closed his eyes and succumbed to unconscious bliss.

* * *

_Before I go further and give you the inevitable omake that I am morally bound to churn out, I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank **wasurenaide arigatou**_,_ who graciously requested to translate _Bet_ and another story of mine,_ Family Problems_, into Vietnamese (I said yes). _Bet_ can be found on vnsharing, t=397404._

_Anyway, I'm very thankful to everyone who sticks around even through my long absences. (Just late for thanksgiving!)__ I'll try to come up with the next chapter soon, so please bear with my dilatory behavior!_

* * *

No matter what happened, Reborn was the one who worked the hardest.

It wasn't uncommon (especially in comedic fiction) for the top of a group to be rather silly, and thus the second-in-command was often left to take care of the logistics. Of course, it was completely ludicrous for anyone to even think of referring to Tsunayoshi Sawada as "silly," but still...

Sawada had almost a personal law to do what he liked, and no one denied him of anything. He controlled their fear marvelously. Because of that, he tended to leave things for Reborn to do.

That being said, Reborn sighed. Again with taking up the slack for the Chairman. After the battle, Sawada had, surprisingly, let his legs buckle beneath him and had fallen over. With a few words, Reborn directed the rest of the Disciplinary Committee from where they had been observing from the Reception Room.

Leaving one member to call for an ambulance, the rest went down to see what they could do. Once the paramedics arrived, they assisted in the transport of the two Namimori Middle School students. Even in unconsciousness, Sawada had thrashed about, resenting being handled or even touched by others. On the other hand, Hibari was totally limp.

Reborn sighed after the ambulance had left, sirens wailing, as he turned to face the grounds. He was going to have to clean this up, wasn't he?

Then he smiled. Chewing on his grass stalk, he began giving out orders effectively and efficiently to make the job pass smoothly.

All in a day's work for the second-in-command.

* * *

_Oh, what do you know; I suddenly have muse. Here, have another one. You all deserve it._

* * *

"Nnngh..."

"Hey, you're awake. Good evening."

"Gah!"

Sawada frowned, closing the book on his lap after inserting the bookmark. "Don't be loud in a hospital," he ordered, putting the book on the bedside table. "It's a neighborhood disturbance."

"S- sorry," Kyouya apologized, looking around. They were in the same room as the last time they had both been in the hospital; Sawada for an illness, and Kyouya for injuries that had been accidentally self-inflicted after the incident with Kusakabe-san's pet in the mountains. Who was apparently Richie's (Fong's partner, a monkey) child. However that worked.

Anyway, what were they doing in the- oh.

"Um... Sawada-san?" he asked. The prefect looked at him from where he had been staring out the window at the fading twilight. "How long are we going to be hospitalized."

"Tomorrow morning; that means you'll be going to school," came the immediate reply. Kyouya couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Such as short period meant that the wounds shouldn't be _too_ serious, and also that he wouldn't be trapped in a room with the feared Disciplinary Committee Leader for days on end. Though he was pretty certain he'd be keeping this sling on his left arm. He wondered how that would hinder whatever punishment Sawada had in store for him.

Speaking of which, Sawada seemed quite mellow now. The raven-haired boy had half a mind to ask if he was alright, but in the end decided against it. Sawada surprised him by initiating the next conversation.

"I don't understand you."

"... Eh?"

"Just like I said. I don't understand you. Sometimes weak, and sometimes strong." The brunet turned to face the other, the color of his eyes reflecting the change in lighting from day to night, from natural to artificial. "Which is the _real_ Kyouya Hibari?"

There was a long period of silence, in which Kyouya pondered the question. For once, Sawada allowed him the time, apparently wanting a real answer. Finally, Kyouya could only come up with one answer.

"Neither, and both."


	13. The End

_After a a year and a half, here is the final installment of Bet__! (That took way too long!) Haha, and what a year (+0.5) it's been, filled with inactivity and flailing and trolling the readers just because I can. (That's mean.)_

_A- anyway! I wrote most of this on Christmas, even though I had wanted to upload it on... oh well. Without further ado, please enjoy the final act._

* * *

Kyouya was awoken by the sunlight filtering through the window curtains. Since when were the curtains white? And why were they on the left side of the bed? Also, why was his room so big and... clean?

It took him a moment to remember that he was in the hospital.

It took him another moment to remember that he had lost the bet; Sawada had said so.

In total, it took him about 5 seconds until he remembered that he was in the same room as the scariest person in the middle school.

"Hey, don't fall out of the bed," Sawada said, amusement coloring his voice. He had a book open on his lap, but he apparently hadn't been reading it for the past minute. "Your left arm already has a third degree sprain; you don't need to bruise the other one."

_And you, Sawada-san? Don't you need to be careful?_ Kyouya thought, as the prefect in question leapt out of bed with a stretch and a yawn.

"Well, come on then," the brunet said, gathering his things and changing into school clothes (Kyouya looked away). "We're going to be late. It's too far to walk, so I'll take you."

"Wha-" Kyouya's sentence was interrupted by a bundle of clothes being thrown in his face. His uniform.

Sawada growled a little impatiently. "Hurry _up_. I'm not going to let you off for being tardy."

Kyouya quickly changed and ran after Sawada downstairs. The nurses all let them go, which the raven-haired boy thought was strange, but then thought better than to question it. Sawada probably had his own rules. After the elder of the two signed them out with the head doctor, they went outside.

Kyouya Hibari spent the next seven to thirteen minutes (he wasn't really keeping track) trying not to scream in terror as he clung for dear life to Sawada's middle with one arm as they zipped through the streets on a motorcycle at speeds which the poor first-year was sure were illegal.

Sawada pulled up right in front of the gate. The Disciplinary Committee was, unusually, absent. Students who saw the head prefect scrambled inside post-haste, though Kyouya could feel the confused glances of a few more attentive ones. "We're here," he said, nudging the slumped form of his junior with a finger. "Kyouya Hibari, get up. You're going to be late, and I'm not in the mood for a fight right now."

Feeling almost as though he were drunk, Kyouya managed to get up onto shaky legs. Then, after a wobbly bow and mutter of gratitude, he shuffled away unsteadily. As he tripped over his own foot and simply lay there, trying to wait for his head to stop spinning, Sawada smirked a little, though it was soon replaced by a scowl as he walked over to kick the prone form lightly. "I'm not going to tell you again. Get up and get to class."

Kyouya half dragged himself, and half shuffled his way off toward his classroom.

…

Finally in the safety of his homeroom, the black-haired boy sunk into his chair, bag in hand. In front of him, Gokudera turned and gave him a bewildered look. "What _happened_, Kyouya? You look like you got run over by a truck!" he asked incredulously.

In a heartbeat, Yamamoto was over by their desks in the corner, fussing over his beloved Tenth like a mother hen. "Tenth!" he wailed, kneeling and beating his head on the floor. "It was my fault! I should have stayed after school with you yesterday! It was him, wasn't it? That- that- ugh! I can't _stand_ the thought of him being a guardian. This is unacceptable! Please accept my sincerest apologies!"

"A- actually, Yamamoto-kun," Kyouya insisted, trying to get his friend to stop beating the floor in. "I- I got let off easy, I think. A- and it probably would have been worse if you were there... because that would have been flocking, right? And then Sawada-san would have gotten angry..."

Gokudera laughed lightly. "Don't worry, Yamamoto!" he said with a chuckle. "Kyou's fine, as you can see!"

"Shut up, you... you octopus-headed idiot!" Yamamoto shrieked. "Imagine what could have happened if that guy _weren't_ a guardian! The Tenth could have been killed!"

Kyouya felt a bead of sweat drop down the side of his face. _I- I don't think Sawada-san cares about that, Yamamoto-kun._

He was saved from further embarrassment at the hands of his two best friends when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning, he instead felt his face go red at the sight of his crush. Nagi really was the prettiest, nicest girl he could have ever hoped to meet. Oh, she was saying something. "I'm sorry, what?"

She blinked, then giggled. "I was just asking if you were alright, Kyou-kun," she said. "Since you didn't come home yesterday, Kyou-kun's mom called my house! I said that you were probably okay, and Onii-chan said so too. But since you have a sling and all, I was just wondering..."

"O- oh!" Kyouya floundered, and Gokudera laughed. "I- I'm fine! Really! I just had something to do with Sawada-san yesterday, a- and I only got hurt because I'm clumsy! You know, Dame-Kyou and all that! N- nothing's wrong, really!" Around him, he could faintly hear intense whispering going on immediately after the words "something to do with Sawada-san".

Nagi sighed in relief, the tension in her body releasing. "That's good," she said, smiling brightly. "I was worried that maybe Onii-chan convinced you to climb up the chimney of the bath house with him or something! Don't push yourself, alright?"

_Here come Onii-san's crazy fibs again..._ "N- no, it's nothing like that!" Kyouya insisted. "Oh, say hi to him for me!"

"I will! Oh, class is about to start. I'll talk to you later then, Kyou-kun!" Nagi replied, going back to her seat. Haru was waiting for her.

"Take your seats," the teacher said, opening the door. The students obediently sat down. He took out the roll book and began calling out names, asking a few students to help pass out today's memos. "Let's see... Annaka is sick, and I think that's it. As I'm sure you all know," he said, not looking up. "Today is a B schedule, so we'll be having-"

He was interrupted by a crackling sound as the PA system burst into static. _"Testing,"_ a voice said, and Kyouya recognized it as Reborn. _"Ah, it's working. Good morning, everyone. I hope I'm not interrupting anything terribly important, but I promise that I won't take long. First, I would like to remind-"_

"_Vice chairman, move over."_

The class (teacher included) gave a collective shudder as the head prefect's voice filtered through.

"_No, not shift, I said _move over_. All of you, stop flocking about. Move!"_

There was an amassed shuffling and murmuring (presumably) as the Disciplinary Committee members cleared the area. Gokudera laughed. "Sawada's always lively, isn't he?"

"_Alright, now that this is working. Kyouya Hibari, are you listening? I'm only saying this once."_

As a whole, the class (teacher included) turned and stared at Kyouya, who was sitting in the very back. The boy swallowed thickly, looking down. For lack of a better description, he looked as though he were already in line at the gallows for a hanging. Maybe it would be something swifter, like a guillotine. Either way, death seemed imminent.

"_Kyouya Hibari isn't as weak as you think. I suggest that you stop pushing his buttons; he may just snap and kill you all. Vice chairman, take over."_

"_Thank you, Chairman. Taking over from where I left off, there is a baseball match later this-"_

Everything after that was completely drowned out as the class (teacher included) practically blew the walls out with a collective yell. Announcements were forgotten as students rushed over to a bewildered Kyouya's desk, pressuring him with questions.

"Dame-Kyou, how'd you do it?"

"What happened yesterday?"

"Did you hurt your arm in a fight with Sawada-san?"

"I heard that you and Sawada-san were in the hospital this morning!"

"So it's true, then? You and Sawada are friends?"

"Do you know why they had us leave really fast yesterday?"

"What happened? Tell us!"

"Yeah, go on! Spit it out, Hibari!"

Overcoming the huge shock that came with the announcement, Kyouya swallowed nervously. "I- I- I just…" he managed to splutter out. The crowd moved even farther in.

Taking a deep breath, he regained his composure before trying to speak again. "I just won a bet," he answered honestly. "With my dying will."

…

"Sawada-san!"

Sawada stopped and turned. His trademark gakuran sat loose on his shoulders, looking more at home there than they had yesterday on the small first-year's. The red armband remained untouched, fastened securely to the left sleeve with a safety pin. School was done for the day, and he had simply been making his way to the Reception Room to finish up some work. Students had gone home, and the hallways were empty of flocking creatures… with the exception of one, anyway. "Kyouya Hibari," he said, acknowledging the raven-haired boy who power-walked up to him (he noted the observance of the rule not to run in the hallways). "Is there something you need?"

"I hope I'm not being a bother," Kyouya replied softly with a smile.

Sawada shook his head. "Not really. There isn't much work today, so I can give you a few minutes. What is it?"

"Alright then," Kyouya said. He opened his mouth to begin the next sentence, apparently thought better of it, and went into thought. This repeated once or twice. "... Why?"

"Why what?"

Kyouya's head tilted slightly to the side, expressing curiosity. "Why did you let me win? I lost the bet, I lost the battle."

"If you had lost the bet, I wouldn't have conceded to your strength," Sawada pointed out. Kyouya still looked confused, so the brunet sighed. "Do you remember the conditions I set two days ago?"

"Well," the shorter of the two hummed, trying to remember. Yesterday had been a long one. "We were to switch roles for a day, and during that time, I had to prove that I _am_ strong. A- and if I didn't, I'd have to fight you. Which I did, so that means that I didn't. And I lost anyway. S- so I don't understand."

"You're right," the prefect agreed. "I had said, 'Tomorrow, you an I will switch roles in school for a day. During that time, if you can prove to me that you have what it takes to be strong, then I will make an announcement to the entire school the following day, saying that you are not weak.' Do you understand?"

Kyouya shook his head.

Sawada sighed. "I said that we would switch roles in school, and you had the time period of a day to prove your strength to me. By allowing Ryohei Sasagawa to not infiltrate my school, but kidnap one of my students, you proved that you were still too weak, too naïve. For that, I had you fight me."

The smaller boy nodded slowly, contemplating what had been said. Yes, that was all true; where was it going?

"However, during that fight, you _did_ prove something. You proved that you have potential. You are still _far_ from being my equal; remember that, Kyouya Hibari. But there is hope for you yet." Reaching out, Sawada briefly ruffled Kyouya's hair, with a mutter of "Live up to my expectations". Then he turned, and began walking down to his office.

"Yesterday was fun. Fight me again sometime."

For a moment, Kyouya stood, rooted to the spot with surprise. Then a grin stretched across his face, and he bowed to the prefect's turned back. "Thank you very much!"

With that, he turned and scampered off toward the stairs. His friends and a brighter future were waiting for him at the gates.

* * *

_Lately I've taken to rereading the entirety of Bet. Honestly, I can't help but cringe a little at a lot of things in the beginning; I can see that there are many useless or not very well-written scenes (I knew that even before I started reading). But if I can recognize that something was done badly, that means I've improved, right? And that's the important part!_

_I'm really glad that some readers have been here since the beginning, and I'm almost more glad that I've picked up newer readers as time progresses! It makes me happy to know that my work makes people happy enough to keep coming back to it. Isn't that what all artists want? To create something that will last in peoples' memories, and bring them back again and again. It gives me a very warm feeling._

_Ah, I'm rambling, aren't I? … Oh well. I think that, since this is the first multi-chapter story with a plot that I've finished, it should be something special! (Ostinatodoesn't count because of reasons (what).) A- Anyway! Because it's a special occasion, I wanted to bring in some extras, just as a late Christmas present to you all! My school begins right after the New Year, so unfortunately, I won't be around too much for that (I want mochi, haha). I hope you had a good time with me, and I hope I'll continue to write stories that you will all enjoy!_

* * *

"Kyou-san!"

As soon as he exited the school gates, Kyouya found his arms full of sobbing female. Specifically, I-Pin.

"Kyou-san you liar! Idiot!" she yelped between sobs, shaking the boy back and forth by his shoulders. Suddenly feeling carsick, he was unable to respond.

"Whoa, _chill_, I-Pin!" Gokudera said. Yamamoto was busy screeching unintelligibly. "What did Kyou do?"

"I- it's not that he did something," I-Pin muttered, quieting down a little. Letting the poor boy go (he wavered uncertainly), she went into her pouting mode, shuffled her feet and looked away. "It's that he _didn't_ do something."

"Then what didn't he do?"

She exploded again. "Yesterday we promised that I-Pin would come see Kyou-san after school and we could go out together! A- and he didn't! I stood there for half an hour! And I wanted to give him something nice, too…"

Kyouya's face expressed only confusion and disbelief. _When did I promise that? How did you not notice the fighting? I- I mean I'm glad that you didn't get involved, but still..._ Swallowing, he tried to look apologetic. "S- sorry, I-Pin… Is there anything I can do to apologize?"

I-Pin tried her best to glare, then broke down wailing. "Y- you're trying to take advantage of I-Pin's affections! You're trying to be all chivalrous and toy with her emotions!"

Kyouya replied the best way he could: "Um..."

"Go to the amusement park with I-Pin!"

"... What?"

I-Pin pouted again. "Since we didn't go out yesterday, then we can go out today, right?"

"S- sure," Kyouya agreed. I-Pin was pretty forceful, in a way. "Right now?"

Gokudera laughed. "Haha, sounds like fun! Can I join you guys?"

"If the Tenth is going, then I'm going too!" Yamamoto shouted.

"Hahi! But, but if Gokudera-san and Yamamoto-san come, then it won't be a date..." I-Pin pouted.

_No one ever said anything about a date, I-Pin,_ Kyouya thought.

"Oh well!" Kyouya marveled at how easily the girl regained her composure. I-Pin clung to his arm, smiling brightly. "I still get to spend the afternoon with Kyou-san!"

In the end, Kyouya was first dragged to I-Pin's house, his two best friends following, where they were presented with a two-day-old cake that she had wanted to give him yesterday. As they were sharing it (Kyouya could never resist sharing nice things with his friends), Nagi dropped by; when the school idol heard about the plans to go to the amusement park, she clapped her hands and eagerly asked if she could join. I-Pin said yes, and additionally offered her best friend a bit of (Kyouya's) cake. The raven-haired boy's face head exploded from the amount of blood he felt rushing up to it when he realized that he would be spending the entire afternoon near his crush.

When Kyouya got home, Fong made him finish his homework immediately after dinner with a poisoned needle held dangerously close to his neck.

All in all, it was a very lively afternoon, filled with merriment and free of worries (! ?).

* * *

_You probably all thought I forgot about I-Pin, didn't you? Haha! (That's because I did. I- I'm sure someone else did too!) Anyway, I kind of just wanted to end on a very normal note. The bet is done, and life returns to normal._

_Thank you, and thank you again!_

_Next year is the Year of the Dragon... It's Fong's year! (Not really.) But I like to think that it is!  
_


End file.
